In stage two of the Dakar Rally, Audi strikes again as De Mevius loses the lead

The winner of the 2nd stage of the Dakar Rally is Stephane Peterhansel. Guillaume De Mevius had to give up his lead after the Audi racer lost a lot of time earlier in the day, but he quickly came back.

There were 463 fast kilometers in the second stage of the Dakar to get to Al Duwadimi. Unexpectedly, Guillaume De Mevius won the first stage, but he would soon have to give up.

The Belgian spent the entire day hovering around eighth place and surrendered the lead in the overall classification to eighth-place finisher Carlos Sainz Sr.

Many of the top racers lost time in the dangerous opening round on Saturday. Stephane Peterhansel was one of them, and he had to give De Mevius more than thirty minutes of his time.

Carlos Sainz Formula 1 2022 Ferrari Racing Uniform

Max Verstappen Formula 1 2022 Red Bull Racing Uniform

Throughout the first stage, the French Audi racer consistently achieved the quickest times, indicating that he was on a mission. The gap with Sebastien Loeb (Prodrive Hunter), another revenge-seeking driver, was exceedingly small. After 342 kilometres, the difference between them was a mere five seconds.

Peterhansel would let his experience do the talking; ‘Mister Dakar’ won the stage by a razor-thin margin over Loeb, leading him by 29 seconds.

In his Toyota, the formidable Seth Quintero came in third place, ahead of teammate Yazeed Al-Rajhi and the reigning champion Nasser Al-Attiyah (Prodrive Hunter). It was already the 84th stage victory of Peterhansel’s career. He is ranked eighth overall.

CLASSIFICATION AFTER THE SECOND STAGE (CARS)

#	Driver	Team	Time difference
1.	Carlos Sainz	Audi Sport	8:49:38
2.	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	Toyota Overdrive	+1:51
3.	Sebastien Loeb	Prodrive Hunter	+4:15
4.	Seth Quintero	Toyota Gazoo	+7:36
5.	Guillaume De Mevius	Toyota Overdrive	+7:44