Sainz stretches Dakar lead
Former world rally champion Sainz claimed his second straight win in his Volkswagen, while Despres repeated his first day win in the motorbikes section on his KTM.
Sainz had a one-minute three second advantage over Qatari teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah after the 324km special stage from Cordoba to San Miguel de Tucuman.
Dakar Rally legend Stephane Peterhansel was in third, a further 31 seconds adrift in his BMW.
Sainz leads Peterhansel by three minutes five seconds overall, but admitted his second day victory was not without problems.
"It was a difficult stage to tackle again and I had windscreen wiper problems again — they wouldn't work properly," he told the official race website.
"For a dozen kilometers, I couldn't see a thing and I had to drive very slowly. Overall, though, this stage suited me rather well."
NASCAR driver Robby Gordon had a mechanical issue Monday that required about 35 minutes in repairs late in the second stage of the Dakar Rally, and the NASCAR driver now finds himself 21st overall and nearly 67 minutes behind the leaders in the provisional overall standings.
Gordon, driving a Hummer built by his Robby Gordon Motorsports shop that also houses his Sprint Cup operation, needed 4 hours, 7 minutes to complete the 201-mile route from Cordoba to San Miguel de Tucuman in Argentina. He is now 1 hour, 6 minutes and 55 seconds behind the leaders.
The third stage will be Tuesday from San Miguel de Tucuman to San Salvador de Jujuy. The timed portion of the route, split into two sections, entails 310 miles.