Dakar: Team USA stage two report

The car special was again made for WRC specialists: hilly tracks, slippery curves where pure driving skills were requested to grab victory. And the master on such a course was of course 'El Matador', Carlos Sainz (VW -- n307) who clinched his second ...

The car special was again made for WRC specialists: hilly tracks, slippery curves where pure driving skills were requested to grab victory. And the master on such a course was of course 'El Matador', Carlos Sainz (VW -- n307) who clinched his second success in a row. This time it took the Spaniard 1h34'28" to cover the 115km, beating Luc Alphand (MIT -- n302) by only 25". A good performance from the Frenchman who finished runner-up of last year's event.

Third position went to Nasser Al Attiyah (BMW -- n308), another WRC specialist (winner of the Pan- Asian championship) who seemed to have forgotten his disappointing 13th spot yesterday. The following three spots were for the Mitsubishi drivers with Masuoka (MIT -- n306) fourth at 1'01", Roma (MIT -- n304) fifth at 1'02" and Peterhansel (MIT -- n300) sixth at 2'25".

The title holder who again was forced to stop because of a puncture. Local hero, Carlos Sousa this time had to settle for an 8th position, over 3' off the winning pace.

Gordon's time of 01:38:18 left him 3'50" off the best time of the day and gave him a 13th position in the special. Overall Gordon retained his 14th place classification and is 8'29" off the best mark set by Sainz.