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Loeb Gives BRX, Prodrive First Dakar Rally Stage Victory on Stage 2; Jones Atop SSV Rankings

Jan. 3, 2022
Off Road Racer Staff

Nine-time FIA World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb scored the 15th stage win of his Dakar Rally career, and the first for the Prodrive-backed Bahrain Raid Xtreme team, in Tuesday’s trek from Ha’il to Al Qaisumah on Monday. Loeb’s winning time of 3:25:00 was just under three and a half minutes faster than Nasser Al-Attiyah, who maintains the overall event lead by more than nine minutes over Loeb. On the motorcycles, it was Joan Barreda Bort taking the stage win, enabling him to return to the top 10, but once again the second place finisher on the day holds the overall lead. Sam Sunderland, now flying the GasGas colors after more than half a decade representing their parent brand at KTM, inherited the top spot from rookie teammate Daniel Sanders, and now holds it by just under three minutes over Adrien Van Beveren. [caption id="attachment_90166" align="alignnone" width="1024"]DAK A S O E Vargiolu DPPI 88 Barreda Bort Joan (spa), Monster Energy Honda Team 2022, Honda CRF 450 Rally, Moto, Motul, action during the Stage 2 of the Dakar Rally 2022 between Hail and Al Artawiya, on January 3rd 2022 in Al Artawiya, Saudi Arabia - Photo Eric Vargiolu / DPPI[/caption] What had been a terrific start to the rally for American wunderkind Seth Quintero has already taken a heartbreaking turn, as a mechanical failure has already ended his shot at the overall Light Prototype win. Quintero’s teammate Guillaume De Mevius took the stage win, while Chaleco Lopez inherited the top overall spot as he looks to win the event for a second year in a row. In the SSV class, Michal Goczal earned the victory, with Austin Jones taking over the overall top spot from Aron Domzala, who was 21st on the day. Manuel Andujar (quads) and Andrey Karginov (trucks) completed the stage winners on the day, while Laisvydas Kancius and Dmitry Sotnikov maintained their overall leads in those respective classes from yesterday. [caption id="attachment_90167" align="alignnone" width="1024"]DAK A S O J Delfosse DPPI 179 Kancius Laisvydas (ltu), Story Racing S.R.O., Yamaha YFM 700, Quad, action during the Stage 2 of the Dakar Rally 2022 between Hail and Al Artawiya, on January 3rd 2022 in Al Artawiya, Saudi Arabia - Photo Julien Delfosse / DPPI[/caption] 2022 Dakar Rally Stage 2 winners were as follows:
  • Bikes: Joan Barreda Bort (ESP), 3:31:20
  • Cars: Sebastien Loeb (FRA), 3:25:00
  • Trucks: Andrey Karginov (RUS), 3:52:07
  • Quads: Manuel Andujar (ARG), 4:27:51
  • Light Prototype: Guillaume De Mevius (BEL), 4:02:24
  • SSV: Michal Goczal (POL), 4:10:34
[caption id="attachment_90168" align="alignnone" width="1024"]DAK Florent Gooden DPPI #509 Karginov Andrey (rus), Mokeev Andrey (rus), Malkov Ivan (rus), Kamaz-Master, Kamaz 43509, T5 FIA Camion, action during the Stage 2 of the Dakar Rally 2022 between Hail and Al Artawiya, on January 3rd 2022 in Al Artawiya, Saudi Arabia - Photo Florent Gooden / DPPI[/caption] 2022 Dakar Rally overall leaders after Stage 2 are as follows:
  • Bikes: Sam Sunderland (GBR), 8:31:29
  • Cars: Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT), 6:59:21
  • Trucks: Dmitry Sotnikov (RUS), 7:59:07
  • Quads: Laisvydas Kancius (LTU), 10:54:36
  • Light Prototype: Chaleco Lopez (CHL), 8:30:15
  • SSV: Austin Jones (USA), 8:51:19
The Dakar Rally continues tomorrow with Stage 3, featuring 225 kilometers of special stage heading to Al Qaisumah. Coverage of Stage 2 will air on the Olympic Channel tonight at 8PM ET, with extended highlights also streaming on NBC Sports digital platforms and Peacock.
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