Stage 1:
Toyota Gazoo Racing suffers tough opening day at Dakar 2020
Mini takes top three spots on first day of 2020 Dakar
Stage 2:
Stage 3:
Tuesday, 8:51 AM Local Time
South Africa’s Giniel de Villiers, partnered with Spanish co-driver, Alex Haro, won Stage 2 of Dakar 2020, between Al Wajh and Neom. The pair drove a perfect stage despite setting off as the 14th car on the road, and brought their South African-built Toyota Hilux home in the fastest time of the day. They beat MINI’s Orlando Terranova to the post by 3min 57sec, and move up to 6th place in the overall standings as a result, 12min 04sec behind the leaders.
“Sometimes you have a bad day on the Dakar, like we had yesterday – and other days you have good ones,” said an elated De Villiers after parking the Toyota in the bivouac at the future megacity of Neom, on the Saudi Arabian coast. “Today was a good day, and we are happy to be back on track. Now we just need more days like this.”
Giniel set off for the third stage on 8.15, South African time. He’s followed by Orlando Terranova, who is part of the X-Raid Mini JCW Team. Nasser Al-Attiyah is roughly 11 minutes behind Giniel.
Update: 9:00AM
Carlos Sainz is currently in the lead, following the first waypoint. Nasser Al-Attiyah is second. Terranova has dropped down to sixth and Giniel is in eight place.
Update: 9:40AM
Carlos Sainz is in the lead, followed closely by Nasser Al-Attiyah in second. Giniel is currently in eight place.
Update: 10:30
At PK125, the standings are as follows: Nasser in first place, Carlos Sainz in second and Stephane Peterhansel in third. Fernando Alonso has moved up to fourth. Ten Brinke is in 12th, while Giniel has dropped down to 16th.
Update: 11:15
Some competitors have already passed waypoint PK251. The current standing is Carlos Sainz in first place, Nasser Al-Attiyah in second and Rahji (also in a Toyota) in third. Qassimi in a Peugeot is currently in fourth, Terranova in sixth and Giniel de Villiers in seventh. Only one more waypoint to go before the day is finished for the frontrunners.
Update: 11:50
It’s one epic race in Saudi Arabia today. With only one more waypoint to go, the standings are currently as follows: Carlos Sainz in first, Peterhansel in second, Al-Attyah in third and Alonso in fourth. Following a tough two days, Fernando is definitely proving that he’s a worthwhile investment. Giniel is currently in 15th place.
Update: 12:30
Word from the media team on the ground.
“Today’s stage seems much more sandy than the two openers. Better for the tyres, but hardly a walk in the park. At the mid-point, Giniel and Alex had lost the best part of 12 minutes opening the road. Nasser and Mathieu, however, have been holding steady in third – good going by the Qatari and Frenchman. First cars due at the finish in an hour from now.”
Update: 14:15
Stage 3 of the 2020 Dakar Rally was a hard fought affair. After more than 400 kilometres of racing it was Carlos Sainz driving a Mini who emerged victorious ahead of the Toyota Gazoo racing crew of Nasser Al Attiyah and Matthieu Baumel by 3 minutes and 31 seconds. This sees Al Attiyah move up to second position in the overall standings, just under 5 minutes behind Sainz. Fernando Alonso and Marc Coma had a better day and finished in fifth position. Yesterdays stage winner Giniel de Villiers had a tough day as he had to lead the field into the unknown, he lost 16 minutes and 21 seconds, finished the day in ninth and has slipped down to seventh position in the overall standings.