Al-Attiyah leading
January 6, 2015
Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah has taken the overall lead with a win in the second stage of the Dakar Rally in Argentina. A day earlier, Al-Attiyah was also the fastest but then received a two-minute penalty post-race for driving too fast in the marshalling area.
The Mini driver - who also won a bronze medal in skeet shooting at the London 2012 Olympics - was more than eight minutes faster than the competition over the 518 kilometer course (321.87 miles) between Villa Carlos Paz and San Juan on Monday.
South African driver Giniel de Villiers, together with his German co-pilot Dirk von Zitzewitz, was the second fastest in stage two in their Toyota. They are also now second in the overall points tally some 7 minutes and 42 seconds behind Al-Attiyah. In third place are Bernhard Ten Brinke and Tom Colsoul also in a Toyota vehicle. The Mini pair of Orlando Terranova and Bernardo Graue have now slipped out of the top three.
In total, some 400 competitors are entered in this year's Dakar Rally, in cars, trucks, motorbikes and quad bikes. The 36th edition of the race is around 9000 kilometers long and takes in parts of Chile and Bolivia too. The rally ends on January 17 in Buenos Aires.
al/jh (dpa, SID)