Sanders extends lead as Sainz flips
Australia’s Daniel Sanders has maintained his 2025 Dakar Rally lead after reaching the rest stop of the 48-hour Stage 2, but Carlos Sainz did not.
It is currently a near-perfect campaign from Sanders, with the Aussie KTM rider topping both the Prologue and opening stage.
The next biggest challenge facing him was the mammoth 1058km Stage 2 that is spread across two days.
But it is so far so good for Sanders as he has maintained his overall lead.
After the first leg of the two-day marathon, Sanders sits first overall after 7h41m56s of riding through the sand.
Critically that meant nearest rival Ricky Brabec only trimmed 40s from the deficit having entered the stage as Sanders’ nearest rival being 2m22s off the pace.
This leaves Sanders with still the best part of 2m up his sleeve ahead of the run home.
Ross Branch lost some time, but still sits third, whilst Tosha Schareina jumped Skyler Howes for fourth.
Fellow Australians Toby Hederics and Andrew Houlihan to be 32nd and 95th respectively.
In the cars Toby Price rocketed up the leaderboard, rising from 12th to sixth in the overall standings.
Toby Price during stage 2 of Rally Dakar 2025. Image: Flavien Duhamel / Red Bull Content Pool
Price, who is taking on Dakar on four wheels for the first time, made up significant ground at the start of second stage.
The Aussie and British navigator Sam Sunderland reached the overnight stop over with the 12th fastest time, 31m away from leader Seth Quintero.
But critically Price has lost minimal time to his rivals as reigning winner Carlos Sainz found trouble.
Sainz was within five minutes of the leaders after around 200km before his Ford Raptor flipped upside down just 127km later.
Carlos Sainz had a tough time for Ford M-Sport. Image: Kin Marcin / Red Bull Content Pool
The 62-year-old lost control in the sand dunes and needed the help of teammate Mitch Guthrie to get back on four wheels.
Sainz ended up limping home with his co-driver keeping the door shut and lost the best part of an hour.
Another big name that experienced issues was Sebastien Loeb, who broke down with fan issues at the 409km mark and lost over half an hour.
Yazeed Al-Rajhi quietly went about his business to snare the overall lead in his Toyota.
But he sits just 1m19s ahead of Nasser Al-Attiyah, while Henk Lategan is another minute back.
The stage resumes today and live timing is HERE
Main photo: Sebas Romero / Red Bull Content Pool
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