The second stage of the Dakar Rally 2016 went down perfectly yesterday following the cancellation of stage 1 due to heavy downpour. A few modifications were made to the routes but that was all about it. Competitors were engaged in a dusty battle from Villa Carlos Paz to Termas de Río Hondo.
The quads and bikes rallied through a distance of 354 km while the trucks and cars covered a distance of 386 km. The terrain was fair to most competitors especially those who love hills and small water bodies including rivers – the quads and bikes mostly.
The bikes were the first to get classified with KTM rider Toby Price emerging on top ahead of Ruben Faria who made it to the finish line 20 seconds later in his Husqvarna. Stefan Svitko was third on the podium riding for Sherco – a minute and 28 seconds after the leader. The quads were led by Ignacio Casale in first place, Brian Baragwanath in second place (3 minutes and 49s later) and Alejandro Patronelli in third. All the top three quads were Yamahas.
Sebastien Loeb led the cars category in his Peugeot 3008 DKR to finish first ahead of another Peugeot of Stephane Peterhansel and the Ford of Vladimir Vasilyev. In the trucks category, Hans Stacey emerged first driving for MAN, leading another MAN of Peter Versluis. Gerard de Rooy was third in an Iveco.
Stage 3 kicks off today from Termas de Río Hondo to Jujuy – a distance of 190 km after modifications for all competitors. Below are photo highlights from Stage 2, stay with us for more updates.
