American Brabec Wins Dakar Stage

After weather gave the competitors an extra rest day over the weekend in Bolivia's capital La Paz, the 2017 Dakar Rally resume with an altered marathon stage to the salt flats of Uyuni and it saw the only American in this year's race end up on the top step of the podium. Meanwhile, one category leader extended his overall lead, another overall lead change in the quad class and one overall leader hold serve.

American Ricky Brabec won stage seven in the bike class and became the first American to win a stage in the two-wheel category since Kurt Casalli won two stages in the 2013 edition. The California won by a minute and 44 seconds over fellow Honda rider Paulo Gonçalves. Overall leader Sam Sunderland finished third on the day, four minutes and 43 seconds behind Brabec but the British rider extended his overall lead. Joan Barreda finished fourth, six minutes and 51 seconds behind his fellow Honda rider and Xavier de Soultrait rounded out the top five on the day, seven minutes and ten seconds back. 

Sunderland still holds the overall lead and his gap has increased to 17 minutes and 45 seconds ahead of Husqvarna rider Pablo Quintanilla, who finished ninth on the day. Adrien Van Beveren remains third but finds himself 22 minutes and 16 seconds behind Sunderland. Gerard Farres Guell is fourth, 28 minutes and 36 seconds back with Matthias Walkner rounding out the top five, over 34 minutes behind Sunderland. De Soultrait is over 38 minutes back in sixth ahead of Pierre Alexander Renet, who is over an hour back but about three minutes ahead of Gonçalves. 

After his stage victory, Brabec is 14th, one hour, 44 minutes and 44 seconds behind Sunderland. 

Stéphane Peterhansel won his second stage of this year's race and extended his lead but Sébastien Loeb finished 48 seconds behind his fellow French and Peugeot driver. Toyota's Giniel de Villiers finished third on the day, three minutes and 33 seconds back of Peterhansel. Mikko Hirvonen finished five minutes and three seconds behind Peterhansel in fourth with Nani Roma rounding out the top five, 29 seconds behind his fellow Mini driver Hirvonen. 

Peterhansel holds a minute and 57-second lead over Loeb overall. Roma is 11 minutes and seven seconds behind Peterhansel in third. Cyril Despres finished seventh on the day and lost over nine minutes and finds himself 14 minutes and one second behind Peterhansel in fourth. Hirvonen rounds out the top five, 47 minutes and 24 seconds behind Peterhansel. De Villiers trails Peterhansel by nearly an hour and 12 seconds in sixth. 

Sergey Karyakin won his first stage of the Dakar Rally and has vaulted himself to the top of the quad classifications. The Russian won the day by two minutes and 59 seconds over Alex Dutrie. Ignacio Casale finished third, nine minutes and 36 seconds back with Nelson Sanabria finishing 13 minutes and 15 seconds back. Simon Vitse rounded out the top five on the day, finishing 15 seconds behind Sanabria. 

Karyakin leads Vitse by five minutes and 16 seconds overall through stage seven. No rider has held on to the overall lead in the quad class for consecutive stages. Karyakin did hold the overall lead after stage four but dropped to second after stage five behind Vitse. Dutrie is four seconds behind his fellow Frenchman Vitse in third. Casale trails by 15 minutes and 58 seconds in fourth. Daniel Mazzucco trails by an hour and 15 minutes in fifth. 

Dmitry Sotnikov won stage seven of the truck class by two minutes and 51 seconds over Ton Genugten. This is Sotnikov's first stage victory of the 2017 edition and Kamaz's second stage victory.  Federico Villargra finished third on the day, three minutes and 37 seconds behind Sotnikov. Truck overall leader Gerard de Rooy finished four minutes and 25 seconds behind Sotnikov with Siarhei Viazovich rounding out the top five on the day, five minutes and 22 seconds behind Sotnikov.

De Rooy maintains the overall lead in the truck class by two minutes and 11 seconds over Sotnikov. Eduard Nikolaev is third, five minutes and 57 seconds behind de Rooy after finishing seventh on stage seven nearly eight minutes behind Sotnikov. Ayrat Mardeev is fourth, 20 minutes and 12 seconds back after finishing eighth on stage seven. Villagra rounds out the top five, trailing de Rooy by almost 34 minutes.

Stage eight sees the race return to Argentina as the teams go from Uyuni, Bolivia to Salta, Argentina. 

Peterhansel Takes Massive Jump With Stage Three Victory

Stage three of the 2017 Dakar Rally saw massive time gaps after two compacted stages to open this year's race and three of four classes have had a change in the overall standings.

Stéphane Peterhansel won stage three in the car class and led a Peugeot 1-2-3 with Carlos Sainz finishing a minute and 54 seconds behind Peterhansel and Sébastien Loeb in third, three minutes and eight seconds back. Peterhansel jumped to third in the overall standings with his stage victory. Loeb continues to lead overall and has a 42-second lead over Sainz with Peterhansel four minutes and 18 seconds back. Mikko Hirvonen finished fourth on the day and is fourth overall, trailing Loeb in the overall standings by nine minutes and 38 seconds. Toyota had a rough stage three with Nani Roma being the best finisher on the day in eighth and remaining fifth overall, 13 minutes and four seconds back.

Yazeed Al Rajhi finds himself 15 minutes and 17 seconds back in sixth with Cyril Despres eight seconds behind the Mini driver. Orlando Terranova is 21 and a half minutes back in eighth-place. Jakub Przgonski is ninth, over 27 minutes back with Giniel de Villiers rounding out the top ten over 35 minutes back and Romain Dumas just outside the top ten over two and a half minutes behind the South African driver.

Nasser Al-Attiyah had a massive delay on stage three to repair his Toyota and dropped to 25th, over two hours off the lead. Toyota has decided to withdraw Al-Attiyah prior to the start of stage four.

The bike class saw another smashing run and a new class leader. Joan Barreda won stage three by 12 minutes and 29 seconds over Sam Sunderland and the Honda rider now holds the overall lead by 10 minutes and 20 seconds over the British KTM rider. Paulo Gonçalves finds himself 13 minutes and 42 seconds back overall after finishing fifth on the day. Paulo Quintanilla is fourth overall, 14 minutes and 56 seconds back. Toby Price dropped to fifth, 16 minutes and 19 seconds back after finishing ninth on the day.

Sixth overall is a tie between French rider Adrien Van Beveren and Spanish rider Gerard Farres Guell, both 22 minutes behind Barreda. After finishing for third on stage three, Pierre Alexandre Renet is up to eighth in the overall classification, 23 minutes and seven seconds back. American Ricky Brabec has slipped to ninth, six seconds behind Renet after finishing tenth on the day. Stefan Svitko rounds out the top ten, nearly 26 minutes behind Barreda.

Gaston Gonzalez won stage three in the quad class by four minutes and 41 seconds over Ignacio Casale but Casale moved to the overall lead of the class, four minutes and 37 seconds over Gonzalez. Pablo Copetti dropped to third in class, 18 minutes and six seconds back after Copetti finished 14th on the day. Alex Dutrie slipped to fourth in class, 18 minutes and 18 seconds behind Casale with Simon Vitse rounding out the top five, 19 minutes and 38 seconds back.

Eduard Nikolaev won stage three in the truck class and now holds the overall lead by two minutes and 27 seconds over Martin Kolomy. Federico Villagra jumped up to third, four minutes and seven seconds behind the Russian driver with Belorussian Siarhei Viazovich a minute behind the Argentine driver in fourth. Peter Versluis rounds out the top five, just over ten minutes back.

Stage four takes the competitors from San Salvador de Jujuy, Argentina to Tupiza, Bolivia. This will be the first of five stages the race will spend in Bolivia.

Loeb Takes Dakar Lead With Stage Two Victory

Through two days of the 2017 Dakar Rally, a French legend is on top of the car class while the defending champion continues to lead the way in the bike class. A local Argentine leads in the quad class and the Dutch vs. Russian battle continues in the truck class.

Sébastien Loeb won stage two of the rally from Resistencia to San Miguel de Tucumán. The Peugeot driver won by a minute and 23 seconds over Toyota's Nasser Al-Attiyah and that was enough to leapfrog Loeb over Al-Attiyah to the top of the overall standings by 28 seconds. Carlos Sainz finished third on the day, two minutes and 18 seconds back and he is a minute and 56 seconds behind his fellow Peugeot driver in the overall standings. Giniel de Villiers finished fourth on the day and is fourth overall, two minutes and five seconds back of Loeb. Nani Roma made it three Toyota drivers in the top five on the day and overall as the Spaniard trails Loeb by two minutes and 56 seconds after two days. 

Yazeed Al-Rajhi is the top Mini driver in sixth overall, five minutes and 12 seconds behind Loeb. Defending Dakar winner Stéphane Peterhansel finds himself trailing his fellow countryman and Peugeot driver by seven minutes and 26 seconds, placing him seventh overall. Mini's Mikko Hirvonen trails his former World Rally Championship teammate by eight minutes and 49 seconds in eighth place. Toyota's Erik Van Loon and Peugeot's Romain Dumas round out the top ten overall, nine minutes and 36 seconds and nine minutes and 58 seconds back respectively. 

On two wheels, KTM's Toby Price jumped to the top of the overall standings with a stage victory by three minutes and 51 seconds over Honda's Paulo Gonçalves. The Australian's lead over the Portuguese rider in the overall standings is two minutes and 54 seconds. Third on the day was Yamaha's Xavier De Soultrait but he is overcoming a one-minute speeding penalty in the first stage that cost him the stage victory and is fourth overall, three minutes and 41 seconds behind Price. KTM's Sam Sunderland and Husqvarna's Pablo Quintanilla rounded out the top five on the day but after third and fifth overall, with Sunderland 18 seconds ahead of De Soultrait and Quintanilla trailing the French rider by 45 seconds. 

Ricky Brabec, the lone American in the 2017 Dakar Rally sits sixth overall after two days and is three seconds outside the top five. Brabec finished second on stage one for Honda. He is 16 seconds ahead of KTM's Stefan Svitko. Joan Barreda is five minutes and 32 seconds off Price in eighth-place. Stage one winner Juan Pedrero dropped to ninth overall after stage two and the Sherco TVS rider is six minutes and 46 seconds behind Price. Gerard Farres Guell bookends the top ten overall after two stages for KTM and he is three seconds behind Pedrero for ninth. 

Argentine rider Pablo Copetti won stage two in the quad class and like the other two classes, Copetti's stage win has lifted him to top of his class standings overall. The Yamaha rider leads by four minutes and 20 seconds over stage one winner Marcelos Medeiros, who finished fourth on the day. Frenchman Axel Dutrie finished second on the day and is third overall, five minutes and 41 seconds behind Copetti. Ignacio Casale, the 2014 Dakar Rally winner in the quad class, is fourth after two days, six minutes and 25 seconds back. Paraguayan Nelson Sanabria rounds out the top five trailing Copetti by six minutes and 54 seconds after receiving a five-minute penalty on stage two. 

Martin Van Den Brink won stage two in the truck class and the Renault Trucks driver leads Kamaz's Dmitry Sotnikov by three minutes and nine seconds. Stage one winner Martin Kolomy sits third after stage two with the Tatra driver 3 minutes and 11 seconds back. Defending truck class winner Gerard de Rooy trails his fellow countryman by three minutes and 20 seconds in an Iveco. MAN's Peter Versluis makes it five different manufactures represented in the top five after two stage and is three minutes and 29 seconds back. 

Stage three goes from San Miguel de Tucumán to San Sebastian de Jujuy.