Saudi driver Yazeed al-Rajhi (Overdrive) won the second stage of the Dakar-2025 rally in her country on Monday, the formidable “48 hours”, from which defending champion Carlos Sainz escaped but 1 hour 30 minutes late.
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Yazeed al-Rajhithe 43-year-old Saudi completed the 967 km special, spread over two days, in 10h 56min 54sec, despite a 2min penalty for speeding. He is followed by the South African Henk Lategan at 4min 16sec.
Yazeed al-Rajhi led the race almost throughout the two days. Alone Nasser al-Attiyah overtook him at kilometer 231, before being caught shortly before km 373. The Qatari finished third.
“It was really very, very hard. I have the impression that we are on our tenth day of Dakar”reacted Yazeed al-Rajhi upon his arrival at the rally bivouac, which started on Friday.
For this long stage, the competitors had to bivouac in the desert and did not benefit from the assistance of their teams at the night stop.
Victim of a rollover on Sunday which seriously damaged his Ford Raptor, the defending champion Carlos Sainz managed to finish the stage but 01h 35min behind the leader.
Being half an hour late at camp on Sunday evening, following a fan problem which overheated his engine, the Frenchman Sébastien Loeb largely made up for his deficit and finished 7th, at 13min 10sec.
The provisional general classification is dominated by Henk Lateganin front Yazeed al-Rajhi et Nasser al-Attiyah.
