We’re two stages down and three to go at Desafío Ruta 40 as the World Rally-Raid Championship convoy goes up against the dunes of Argentina’s Catamarca Province. There’s tight battles for top spot playing out across all categories and plenty of World Rally-Raid Championship points up for grabs among the fesh-fesh. Let’s take a look at how things stand with 1,165km down, and another 1,609km still to travel…
Leading the way in the T1 car class is five-time Dakar Rally champion Nasser Al-Attiyah. The Qatari followed up his win on last Sunday’s Prologue Stage by setting the fastest time on Monday. On Stage 2 the Toyota GR DKR Hilux T1+ driver and co-driver Mathieu Baumel were able to bring a narrow overall lead of 17 seconds back to the bivouac despite suffering five punctures on the perilous tracks of Catamarca.
Desafío Ruta 40: Top 3 after Stage 2
1. N. AL-ATTIYAH (QAT) TOYOTA 6:43:25
2. J. YACOPINI (ARG) TOYOTA +00:17
3. Y. AL RAJHI (SAU) TOYOTA +16:31T3
1. M. GUTHRIE JR. (USA) MCE5 6:59:55
2. M. EKSTROM (SWE) CAN-AM +2:31
3. N.CAVIGLIASSO (ARG) TAURUS +4:56
Bike
1. T. SCHAREINA (ESP) HONDA 7:22:40
2. L. BENAVIDES (ARG) HUSQVARNA +04:43
3. A. VAN BEVEREN (FRA) HONDA +13:20
QUOTES
Nasser Al-Attiyah: “We had a good run today, we had to be careful from the beginning because there was a lot of fesh-fesh. On the second part of the stage we broke the rear suspension and immediately after that we had two punctures together, front and rear. In total we had five punctures today so we lost a lot of time stopping. I’m pleased with how we finished the stage because it was tricky to manage the flat tyres.”
Mitch Guthrie Jr.: “We didn’t get the stage win so that’s a little disappointing, but we had a clean day with no problems with the car or flat tyres. It was a pretty crazy stage with a little bit of everything; fesh-fesh, gravel roads, rocks, sand washes, dunes, camel grass. You name it, we had it! We kept hold of the overall lead so we’re happy and ready to keep pushing.”
Mattias Ekström: “We had a good day. We lost a bit of time in the fesh-fesh at the beginning passing a quad but apart from that we had a clean stage and enjoyed ourselves a lot. The stage had everything; some boring parts and some exciting parts.”
Seth Quintero: “Today was a rough day for us. We started up front and caught up to some cars that wouldn’t let us pass. With the dust being so bad I wasn’t able to get around them until kilometre 250 and by that time the damage was done. We made a little bit of a change to car for today and it worked out amazing so I’m really looking forward to the rest of the rally.”
Austin ‘AJ’ Jones: “Today was tough, the fesh-fesh was thick like I’ve never seen it before. I’m absolutely filthy after finishing the stage, covered in dust. We also had an issue with the car today where the power switched off for about 15 minutes. We got out, took the helmets off and had to troubleshoot that issue. When something like that happens you’re always grateful to make it to the end of the stage. Now we’ve got three more days to give our best.”
Cristina Gutiérrez: “The stage was a little bit difficult for us today, especially the last 200 kilometres. We felt like we had no dampeners so for our bodies it was incredibly tough. We’re happy because we’re still in one piece and the car is going good. Tomorrow looks like another tough stage.”
Chaleco López: “It was a really dusty day today and it wasn’t comfortable in the car. We’re happy to get it done and to put ourselves in a position to push in the next days. We want to improve our position in the overall in the last three days of the rally.”
Sam Sunderland: “It was a long day and quite physical. It was a mix between the things I love and the things I hate. We had some stoney riverbeds which I don’t really like and then some sandy parts which were pretty fun. My results on these first stages haven’t been amazing, but I’m working to get back my confidence after a tough year. I’m going to keep trying to improve day by day.”