Through Two Stages of the Dakar Rally

The second stage of the 2014 Dakar Rally is in the books and some familiar names are at the top.

Stéphane Peterhansel won stage two and in doing so took the overall lead in the car class. The Frenchman and 11-time winner in the legendary rally defeated 2010 Dakar winner and double World Rally champion Carlos Sainz by forty-six seconds leads the Spaniard by twenty-eight seconds. South African and 2009 Dakar winner Giniel de Villiers finished third today ahead of Nani Roma and 2011 Dakar winner Nasser Al-Attiyah. Al-Attiyah is third overall, four minutes and ten seconds back of teammate Peterhansel and nine seconds ahead of Roma.

As of 8:35 p.m. ET, stage one winner Carlos Sousa of Portugal has yet to finish stage two. He entered the day with an elevens second lead of Argentine Oliver Terranova who finish sixth on the stage and dropped back to fifth overall, eight minutes and thirty-one seconds back.

American Robby Gordon recovered after a disastrous stage one. After finishing 133rd and being assessed a twenty-six and a half minute penally, Gordon finished twenty-eighth in stage two but still trails Peterhansel by three hours, forty-three minutes and twenty-six seconds and is fifty-seventh overall.

Fellow American BJ Baldwin finished eighty-second, six hours thirty-second minutes and twenty-one seconds back after a two-hour penalty. He is eighty-first overall, seven hours twenty-four minutes and  thirty seconds back.

British rider Sam Sunderland won the bike class in stage two, thirty-nine seconds ahead of Chilean Francisco López Contardo with stage one winner Joan Barreda Bort finishing in third, two minutes back. Barreda Bort maintains a two minute and three second lead over López Contardo and two minutes and thirty-three second lead over Sunderland.

Marc Coma and Cyril Despres finished ninth and tenth respectively on the stage and dropped from second and third to fifth and eight overall, seven minutes and eight minutes and twenty-three seconds back respectively.

Americans Mike Johnson and Kevin Muggleton finished 87th and 131rd on the day. Johnson is 93rd overall, two hours, forty-three minutes and five seconds back after a five-minute penalty. Muggleton is 129th seven hours, fourteen minutes and forty-one seconds back after being assessed a two-hour penalty.

Argentine Marcos Patronelli won stage two and in doing so overtook Chilean Ignacio Casale for the lead in the quad class. Patronelli defeated fellow Argentinean Lucas Bonetto by two minutes and fifty-four seconds and leads Bonetto by three minutes and fifty seconds overall. Casale finished sixth on the day, eight minutes and forty-seven seconds back and dropped to fourth overall, eight minutes and twenty-six seconds back. Polish rider Rafał Sonik finished third in stage two and moves to third overall, six minutes and six seconds back.

Russian Anton Shibalov initially won stage two in the truck class by a minute and forty-nine seconds over Dutchman Marcel van Vilet with fellow Dutchman and 2012 Dakar winner Gérard de Rooy finishing third but after the stage, de Rooy was given the stage victory after having twenty-three minutes waived for stopping and helping stage one winner, Russian Ayrat Mardeev after an accident ended their rally.

De Rooy officially wins the stage by thirteen minutes and twenty seconds over Shibalov and fifteen minutes and nine seconds over van Vilet. He also leads overall by thirteen minutes and fifty-seven seconds over van Vilet and eighteen minutes and fifty-two seconds over Shibalov.