2nd leg: Villa Carlos Paz – San Juan Link section: 26 km – Special: 518 km – Link section: 81 km – Total: 625 km This second Special of the 2015 Dakar, the longest of the Rally, wends its way westwards to end up in San Juan. As is the case each year, the bivouac is set up on the autodrome, nestling between walls of rock. The temperatures are unbearable as the asphalt reflects the heat. It is over 43°C and very humid at the bivouac in San Juan… Having set out at 6h30, Joan Barreda (Honda) took the lead from CP1 ahead of Marc Coma (KTM) and Sam Sunderland (KTM). However, after CP3, where the riders arrived around midday, the going got decidedly tougher. The last part was all fesh-fesh and whoops with vegetation under a searing heat reaching over 45°C in the shade... The big guns arrived on their knees, totally exhausted despite their excellent physical shape, but after the 140 first riders, the race direction decided to neutralise the race at CP3 for the last 70, undoubtedly a wise decision. In terms of results, Joan Barreda won the Special, Sam Sunderland got lost for 2 hours and Marc Coma lost 12', coming in 8th: “I had to ride the last 60 km at 30km/h as the rear tyre had melted. I thought at first that I would stay on the track as I had lost a lot of time, around 40’. So let’s look on the bright side. I’m only 12’03 behind Barreda! » Paolo Goncalves (Honda) came in 2nd, 6'13 behind his team mate, followed by Ruben Faria (KTM), Viladoms (KTM) and Toby Price (KTM). Alain Duclos (Sherco) admits that to finish the Special he had to dig deep, physically. “We didn’t have 200m of respite to take a drink as there was fesh fesh everywhere among the spiky plants… The longest straight line was 70m. And on top of that there were animals everywhere!” Michael Metge was the first to finish for team Yamaha, in 17th position, ahead of Alessandro Botturi who ended up on a drip in the medical tent and Olivier Pain, who had trouble finding his pace. In Quad, it was a fine win for Rafal Sonik who almost called it a day as the going was so tough and he is coming up to 50. But he drew on his mental strength to battle on, coming in 3’ ahead of and 4’ ahead of Sergio Lafuente.
TOMORROW’S STAGE
STAGE 3 – Tuesday, 6th January
San Juan (ARG) – Chilecito (ARG)
Liaison: 437 km
Special stage: 220 km
A vision of red
The pressure which competitors faced the day before (and late into the night for some of them), will partly ease off on the road to Chilecito. The shorter and less intense stage will allow them to enjoy their majestic surroundings. The red earth tracks, overlooking steep peaks and plunging down into canyons, will take the Dakar through one of the most beautiful regions of Argentina. But no-one should be tempted to sit back and enjoy the view, particularly on the motorcycle and quad bike routes which include some gruelling sections. With thousands of stones to be avoided, it will only take one to ruin this magnificent day!
Joan Barreda 1ST 5:46'06
In the end we set off with a game-plan to not make any mistakes and arrive safely at the finish-line. The result has been amazing. In the first part, Sunderland and Coma pushed really hard and I overtook Paulo to try and stop them running away with the stage. In the end, it was more about survival than anything else. We had to measure the pace and keep focused on the navigation as there were some extremely tricky spots, plus another stretch towards the end, that really put a strain on the body.
Paulo Goncalves2ND + 6'13"
I think that this was the most difficult Dakar stage that I have ever done. The first 200 km were on mountain track full of rocks, and then suddenly, it all changed to sand, fesh-fesh, and heavily-rutted track, and all of that at really high temperatures. We all really suffered in that very pot-holed area. We are in a great position now in the rally. But there’s a long way to go and we’ve got to stay focused.
Helder Rodrigues 7TH + 11'35
I think that in the end it worked out very well for the whole team. We are ahead in the race and that’s the most important thing. I did better than yesterday too. I’m just about over my flu now, and so the time has come to start pushing harder physically. I’m very pleased to have made it to the finish in perfect shape, and without having made any mistakes in what was a very complicated stage.
Results Stage 2
1BARREDA JoanSPATeam HRC5:46'06
2GONCALVES PauloPORTeam HRC+ 6'13
3FARIA RubenPORKTM Red Bull Rally Factory+ 9'16
4VILADOMS JordiSPAKTM Red Bull Rally Factory+ 9'20
5PRICE TobyAUSKTM AUS Rally Factory+ 9'42
6WALKNER MathiasAUTKTM Red Bull Rally Factory+ 11'25
7RODRIGUES HelderPORTeam HRC+ 11'35
8COMA MarcSPAKTM Red Bull Rally Factory+ 12'32
9ISRAEL JeremiasCHITeam HRC+ 15'49
10PEDRERO JoanSPAPont Grup Yamaha JVO+ 16'45
11QUINTANILLA PabloCHIKTM+ 18:00
12SVITKO StefanSLOSlovnaft Team+ 21:44
13DUCLOS AlainFRASherco Rally Factory+ 21:55
14QUINTANILLA PabloCHIKTM+ 22:50
15CASTEU DavidFRATeam Casteu+ 23:20
16SANZ LaiaSPATeam HRC+ 23'34
17METGE MickaelFRAYamaha Racing+ 25'25
18BOTTURI AlessandroITATeam Speedbrain+ 26'11
19PAIN OlivierFRAYamaha Racing+ 26'19
20JAKES IvanSLOMicrostep Industry Team+ 31'05
PROVISIONAL STANDINGS AFTER STAGE 2
1 BARREDA JoanSPATeam HRCHonda
2GONCALVES PauloPORTeam HRCHonda
3FARIA RubenPORKTM Red Bull Rally FactoryKTM
4VILADOMS JordiSPAKTM Red Bull Rally FactoryKTM
5PRICE TobyAUSKTM AUS Rally FactoryKTM
6COMA MarcSPAKTM Red Bull Rally FactoryKTM
7WALKNER MathiasAUTKTM Red Bull Rally FactoryKTM
8RODRIGUES HelderPORTeam HRCHonda
9ISRAEL JeremiasCHITeam HRCHonda
10PEDRERO JoanSPAPont Grup Yamaha JVOYamaha