Two-time Dakar champion Toby
Price had his best result of the rally
so far with fifth on Stage 2, seven
minutes off Barreda's winning
time. Price now sits 15th overall,
32m48s off Sunderland. It's been
a trying event for the Australian
thus far after navigational errors on
Stage 1B meant he lost almost 45
minutes in the overall standings.
He wasn't the only one who suf-
fered problems on Stage 1B with
current champion Kevin Bena-
vides (KTM), Barreda, Yamaha's
Andrew Short, Hero's Joaquim
Rodriguez, Honda's Ricky Brabec
and Husqvarna's Luciano Bena-
vides all losing mountains of time
due to incorrect navigation.
Brabec was hit particularly
hard, dropping one hour to Stage
1B winner Sanders, the Californian
admitting his race for the victory
is effectively over. He gathered
himself up for a charge on Stage
2, coming home in 15th overall,
15:04 off teammate Barreda.
Rodriguez likewise got it
together on Stage 2, taking sixth
ahead of KTM's Stefan Svitko,
van Beveren, Short and Hero
Motorsport's Aaron Mare.
In the overall standings,
Sunderland leads ahead of van
Beveren, Sanders, KTM's Mat-
thias Walkner (14th on Stage 2),
Howes, Lorenzo Santolino (Sher-
co), Pablo Quintanilla (Honda),
Svitko, Mare and Barreda.
The impressive American (and
youngest Dakar competitor)
Mason Klien (KTM) is 14th overall
following Stage 2, with Andrew
Short 16th and Brabec 22nd.
Stage 2 was a heartbreaker for
one of the more famous entrants
in former MotoGP rider, Danilo
Petrucci (KTM). Following im-
pressive performances on Stage
1A and 1B where he took 23rd
and 13th places, respectively,
Stage 2 saw the Italian suffer a
terminal mechanical failure on
his factory-backed KTM 450
Rally, registering him as a non-
finisher and thus out of the rally.
However, due to a rule change
for this year's event, Petrucci will
be able to continue racing for
the remainder of the event after
being towed into the bivouac but
will not be classified at race's
end.
CN
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 1 JANUARY 4, 2022 P21
Joan Barreda's Stage-2
win sees the Spaniard
move to third overall on
the all-time stage winner's
list. However, he's still
looking for his first overall
Dakar Rally win.
