Dakar 2022 Gets Underway
In Saudi Arabia
T
hree stages of the 2022 Da-
kar Rally in Saudi Arabia have
been run and won, with former
champion Sam Sunderland (Gas-
Gas) leaping into the lead follow-
ing the conclusion of Stage 2.
Sunderland claimed second
on Stage 2 to long-time rival Joan
Barreda (Honda) as the Spaniard
notched his 28th career stage
victory by an impressive five min-
utes and 33 seconds, which puts
him third overall on the all-time
stage winner's list behind former
Dakar Rally winners Stephane
Peterhansel and Cyril Despres on
33 wins.
The result sees the Briton,
Sunderland, holding a 2:51 lead
over Yamaha's Adrien van Bev-
eren with Sunderland's team-
mate, Daniel Sanders, who had
held the lead of the rally follow-
ing consecutive wins on Stage
1A and 1B, dropping to third
after navigation errors halted his
charge. The Australian now lies
3:29 off Sunderland.
"It was an interesting day today
and it certainly went a bit more
smoothly than yesterday, which is
what I wanted," Sunderland said.
"I started sixth and focused on just
pushing hard to catch the leaders.
There was some tricky navigation,
but I figured out the way pretty
quickly and caught up to van
Beveren. We then caught up with
a few more of the leading guys
so from there onwards we took it
in turns to navigate and it was a
pretty cool way to end the stage."
Fourth on Stage 2 went to
American Skyler Howes on the
factory Husqvarna as the Utah
man finished seven minutes
behind Barreda. The result sees
Howes move up to an impressive
fifth overall as the leading Ameri-
can after three stages of racing,
9:59 off Sunderland.
IN
THE
WIND
P20
Sam Sunderland's
second-place finish
on Stage 2 sees
the Briton now the
overall leader.
