Dakar Stage 2: Halfway point of 48-Hour Stage 2

At the break zone located at km 626 of the Dakar special Stage 2, Toyota driver Yazeed Al Rajhi is holding his ground against the pressure from Nasser Al Attiyah in the car category, maintaining a 1m19s lead over the Dacia driver. So far Toyotas have won every stage.

The two front-runners have set a blistering pace, pushing Mattias Ekström back to 8m55s. Behind the leading trio are the quartet of Toyota Hilux drivers: Henk Lategan (+11m13s), Juan Cruz Yacopini (+13m12s), Guy Botterill (+14m04s) and Toby Price (+16m20s).

In the virtual overall, Al Rajhi stays ahead of Al Attiyah, while Lategan climbs to third, 2m12s behind. Ekström and Botterill round out the top 5, with Price continuing to impress in his transition to the cars.

Last year, Yazeed Al Rajhi was plagued by bad luck and had to bow out during the grueling 48 h chrono stage. It was a stark contrast to Sébastien Loeb and Carlos Sainz, who capitalized on the misfortune of rivals, including Al Rajhi, to make their mark.

This year, the tables have turned. The Saudi driver is leading the charge, while Sainz has lost 40 minutes after flipping over his Ford Raptor and Loeb suffered a fan issue. In the virtual standings, Loeb is trailing by 33m33s, while Sainz finds himself 49m33s off the pace.

🚗 @CSainz_oficial flipped his Ford Raptor at km 327!🔄
Thankfully, the crew is unharmed and managed to get back on track, but the car took some heavy damage.🔧

#Dakar2025 #DakarInSaudi pic.twitter.com/XQvASVcUAM

— DAKAR RALLY (@dakar) January 5, 2025

Bikes

Ricky Brabec has cut his deficit to Daniel Sanders from 2m23s at km 609 to just 40 seconds at the km 617 break zone (bonuses not included). The reigning champion is still in with a shout and eager to step it up a notch tomorrow.

Sanders is 4m02s ahead of Brabec and 5m59s clear of Branch in the virtual standings. Tosha Schareina (+ 8m17s) and Skyler Howes (+ 14m28s) round out the top 5.

Dakar 2025 – Cars Stage 2 Halfway (Top 10)