The Qatari won stage two by eight minutes and 30 seconds over South African Giniel de Villiers and now holds the overall lead in the car class with a seven minute and 42-second advantage over de Villiers. Bernhard Ten Brinke finished third in stage two and is third overall, two minutes behind his fellow Toyota driver de Villiers. Krzysztof Holowczyc is ten minutes and 28 seconds behind his Mini teammate in fourth while Russian Vladimir Vasilyev rounds out the top five, 17 minutes and 23 seconds back.
Erik Van Loon is 20 minutes and four seconds back in sixth position with Carlos Sainz 28 seconds behind the Dutchman driving for Peugeot. Saudi driver Yazeed Alrajhi is eighth, a minute and two seconds behind Sainz. Mitsubishi driver Carlos Sousa is ninth, a half minute behind Alrajhi with stage one winner Orlando Terranova 22 minutes and 23 seconds back of Al-Attiyah.
A few big names had trouble on stage two. Stéphane Peterhansel finished 27th on the day and dropped to 22nd overall, over an hour and seven minutes back. Robby Gordon had a long repair for brake problems and he finished over four hours after Al-Attiyah. Nani Roma finished 22nd on stage two, just over an hour back but still finds himself nearly eight and a half hours back overall.
Joan Barreda won stage two and holds the overall bike lead by four minutes and 37 seconds over fellow Honda rider Paulo Gonçalves. Ruben Faria is the top KTM rider in third, ten minutes and 37 seconds back overall. Jordi Viladoms is fourth overall, 11 minutes and 24 seconds back with Australian Toby Price eight seconds back in fifth. Defending Dakar winner Marc Coma is 12 minutes and 3 seconds back in sixth place.
Notables from the bike class after stage two: Hélder Rodrigues is 13 minutes and 26 seconds behind Barreda in eighth. Alain Duclos trails by 22 minutes and 22 seconds in 12th and Olivier Pain is 17th, 28 minutes and 12 seconds back. Stage one winner Sam Sunderland finished nearly two and a half hours back on the day and dropped to 67th overall.
Rafał Sonik won stage two in the quad class and takes a two minute and 26-second lead over stage one winner and defending Dakar winner Ignacio Casale. Sergio Lafuente remains third, four and a half minutes behind Sonik. Sebastian Halpern jumps up to fourth overall, 13 minutes and 39 seconds back. Mohammed Abu-Issa remains fifth overall, trailing Sonik by 21 minutes and 18 seconds.
The only class leader to remain from stage one is Hans Stacey in the truck class despite finishing fourth on the day. Eduard Nikolaev won stage two by 46 seconds over Belarusian driver Siarhei Viazovich with Airat Mardeev finishing another three seconds back in third. Stacey finished a minute and 27 seconds behind Nikolaev but holds the class lead by 20 seconds over the Russian. Martin Kolomy is a minute and one second back in third with Mardeev four seconds behind the Czech in fourth. Viazovich rounds out the top five, a minute and 25 seconds back.
Stage three takes the competitors from San Juan to Chilecito.
