NEOM: South African driver Giniel De Villiers won the second stage of the Dakar Rally on Monday while former Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso dropped two and a half hours after losing a wheel.

De Villiers, who lost 23 minutes when he finished 14th in Sunday’s opening stage, bounced back strongly over the 401 kilometre-route, of which 367 were a special between Al-Wajh and Neom.

Many drivers had navigational problems and De Villiers took advantage of a mistake by long time stage leader Yazeed Al-Rajhi to guide his Toyota home in 3hrs 37mins 20secs.

The 47-year-old crossed the line 3mins 57secs ahead of Orlando Terranova who now heads the overall standings in his Mini.

The Argentinian, who was sixth in the opening stage, is almost five minutes ahead of fellow Mini driver Carlos Sainz.

Defending champion Nasser Al-Attiyah came in fifth on stage two and is six minutes off the lead while 13-time champion Stephane Peterhansel already trails by 13 minutes.

Alonso suffered his first major problem in his first Dakar when he ground to a halt with a damaged wheel. He was running fourth after 100 kilometres of the special when the problem occurred.

The Spaniard had no option but to wait for his assistance team before he was able to resume. However, his chances of reaching the podium already look unlikely.

On the motorcycles, Ross Branch won his first stage on the Dakar after a perfectly controlled day’s riding.

The Botswanan finished 1min 24secs ahead of 2017 winner Sam Sunderland who now leads the bikes category, 1min 18secs ahead of Pablo Quintanilla.

On Tuesday, the rally heads out on a 489 km round trip which starts and ends in Neom.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2020