Stage 2 on Dakar Rally Car news

DAKAR 2012   - Argentina/Chile




16:27 - car 305 - Al-Attiyah 54 seconds in front!

The Qatari has put in a sterling performance, crossing the finishing line with the quickest time of the day, 54 seconds ahead of Peterhansel. The Hummer driver started in 12th position this morning and was able to benefit from this situation with a performance of note after the nightmare he endured yesterday.


Nani Roma has barged into the Top 5 of the day's special at the wheel of his Mini, 3 minutes and 21 seconds behind his team-mate. Behind Roma is South African De Villiers, who is in turn followed by the Mitsubishi of Brazil's Spinelli, 9'57 behind the leader.




16:21 - car  308 - Terranova in difficulty

It is now Argentinean Orlando Terranova's turn to have mechanical difficulties. His Toyota Overdrive has ground to a halt less than 30 kilometres from the finishing line of the special stage.



16:05 - car 306 - Lavieille in trouble

Christian Lavieille, driving a Proto Dessoude, has broken down after 63 km of the special stage. Whilst the leading competitors in the car category have already crossed the finishing line, the French driver is still at a standstill due to a mechanical problem and is attempting to carry out the repairs himself.



15:56 - car 303 - Gordon on form!

American Robby Gordon (Hummer) has slid his way into second place on the special stage, a little less than two minutes behind Peterhansel (Mini). Provisionally, he finished 49 seconds ahead of Holowczyc (Mini). In his Toyota Hilux, South-African Giniel De Villiers is currently fourth, 3'43 behind the day's winner.



15:46 - car 312 - Novitskiy loses ground...

The Russian driver at the wheel of his Mini All4 Racing, who led the general standings on completion of the first stage yesterday, has conceded no less than 11 minutes 26 seconds to the winner on the second day, Stephane Peterhansel.



15:43 - car 302 - Peterhansel ahead of Holowczyc!

At the finish of the special state, Stephane Peterhansel and Krzysztof Holowczyc crossed the line almost neck-and-neck.


The Frenchman will no doubt be the happiest on completion of these 290 kilometres, since he has overtaken the two cars in front of him at the beginning of the day. He finished the special stage in 2:48'12”, 2 minutes 35 seconds in front of the Polish driver!



14:26 - car 311 - Matthias Kahle has broken down...

The German driver at the wheel of an SMG buggy SMG has suffered engine problems on the specials stage. Kahle is now waiting for his assistance team to tow the car, which its crew do not seem able to repair.


14:01 - car 303 - Gordon flashes past CP1!

The American nearly broke the speedometers at CP1, by putting in the quickest performance in his Hummer. With a time of 1:00'22”, he was 34 seconds quicker than Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel (Mini), who until then was leading in this first half of the special stage.



14:01 - car 302 - Advantage Peterhansel at CP1...

Stephane Peterhansel (Mini) has just reached CP1 with a small 4 second lead over Krysztof Holowczyc (Mini). What's more, Giniel de Villiers (Toyota), currently third at the midway point of the special, has stolen in between the Polish driver and his main rival, Russian Leonid Novitskiy (Mini) who is in fourth place.


13:52 - car 304 - Holowczyc quicker than Novitskiy!

At CP1, the first two car competitors on the tracks have provisionally taken the first two places after the first 140 kilometres: Polish driver Holowczyc has been the quickest, with a time of 1:01'00”, one minute and ten seconds ahead of Russian Novitskiy.



12:51 - car 312 - The cars get stuck into the special…

Leonid Novitskiy (RUS) at the wheel of his Mini All4 Rally has arrived at the start of the special stage. His is the first car to do battle with the clock over the 290 kilometres of this second timed section. He will be followed by two other Minis, driven by Poland's Holowczyc and Frenchman Peterhansel.


Afterwards will come the Toyota of Giniel de Villier (AFS) and then the Hummer de Robby Gordon (USA) before the Great Wall belonging to Carlos Sousa (PRT). 153 cars will tackle the special in total.



11:28 - car Some non-starters in the car category...

Six competitors in the car category were not present at the start of the link stage in Santa Rosa de la Pampa. As a result, they are deemed non-starters. Chilean Carlo de Gavardo in a Honda Ridgeline XC, Adrian Yacopini (ARG) in a Volkswagen Amarok, Yannick Commagnac (FRA) who had major problems with his Bowler during the first stage, Argentinean Rafael Sanchez (Hyundai Santa Fe), his countryman Domingo Reginato in a Toyota Hilux and finally Bolivian Gustavo De Rada (Subaru Forester).



15:03 - car 304 - Change of leader in the car category?

Now that the competitors in the car race are tackling the last 40 km of the special stage, their GPS readings point to a change in the hierarchy (to be confirmed). The former leader, Russian driver Novitskiy seems to have been overtaken by his main two rivals, Poland's Holowczyc who is opening the road ahead of Stephane Peterhansel.


07:42 Nasser Al Attiyah: “Not very confident any more”

After a difficult first day, the title holder arrived at the bivouac in Santa Rosa at 11 PM, at the wheel of a Hummer which was probably going do need a good night's work to be able to take starter's orders for the 2nd stage in suitable conditions:


“2 km from the finishing line on the special stage, we could smell something burning, because the fuel pump flexible had melted. Robby towed us to the finishing line and on the link stage we stopped with Lucas to repair it. We both spent two hours at work, because our assistance truck did not turn up. Afterwards, we had to stop every 100 km to put some more oil in.


Now I'm hoping that the mechanics will work well to solve this problem and especially to make sure there aren't any more mishaps. As for victory, I'm not very confident any more, but I'll have to keep on believing in my chances. Sometimes, that's just what rally-raid driving is like”.



07:33 - car 312 - The first cars on the link stage...

Leonid Novitskiy (RUS), with Andreas Schulz (GER) as co-pilot, in his Mini All4 Racing No. 312 started the day's stage, the second of the Dakar 2012, at 6.49 local time. Krzysztof Holowczyc (Pol), also in a Mini, as well as Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel, followed shortly after through the streets of Santa Maria de la Pampa, towards the start of the 290-km special stage which will lead up to the volcanic sands of El Nihuil. 159 cars on the list of the rally starters will be setting off for this second day of the race.



07:26  Declerck and Leconte reinstated to the quad standings.

Following a decision by the race stewards' committee that demoted 7 non-compliant quads to a third class separate from the quad standings, several riders lodged an appeal. Two of them, Christophe Declerck and Antoine Leconte, succeeded in proving to the race officials that their vehicles were indeed based on standard quad models. As a result, they have been reinstated into the rankings as from stage 2, between Santa Rosa de la Pampa and San Rafael.



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