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Dakar 2025 Stage 2 Day 1 Results: Daniel Sanders & Yazzed Al Rajhi Lead 48 Hour Chrono Stage
The first day of Stage 2 of the 47th edition of the Dakar rally saw competitors head into the desert for the 48-hour chrono stage, which will see them cover over 1,000 kilometres of dirt and gravel traps, sand, and dunes.
As the closing whistle blew at 5 p.m. Saudi time, KTM's Daniel Sanders led the stage on the bikes while Overdrive Racing's Yazzed Al Rajhi led the competitors in the cars.
Dakar 2025 Stage 2 Day 1 Results - Bikes
Aussie KTM Rider Daniel Sanders, who has the two previous stages of Dakar 2025, once again found himself in the lead when the bikers riding across the sands of Saudi Arabia saw the clocks cross 5 p.m. local time.
Sanders who started as the last Rally GP rider to set off today, thanks to his win yesterday, ended the day in Break Point E (BP E) and at the time of reporting was the first of just 14 riders to make it this far (BP E comes after the km 609 mark). His time for the day was 7 hours 41 minutes and 56 seconds.
Trailing just 40 seconds behind Brabec at the end of the day was defending champion Ricky Brabec. The American Honda rider finished the day in 7 hours, 42 minutes and 36 seconds.
Hero's Ross Branch, the defending W2RC champion, ended the day in third spot. The rider from Botswana ended up at BP E in 7 hours, 45 minutes and 47 seconds, three minutes and 51 seconds behind Sanders.
Honda's Tosha Schareina (5 minutes and 9 seconds behind) and Skyler Howes (8 minutes and 38 seconds behind) rounded off the top 5. KTM's Edgar Canet was the highest-placed Rally 2 rider, ending the day in 6th overall, 11 minutes and 25 seconds behind Sanders.
Hero's other remaining rider at Dakar 2025, Nacho Cornejo, finished the day in 11th spot. The Chilean rider ended the day at BP E, 15 minutes and 30 seconds behind Sanders's KTM.
At the time of publishing, India's Ashish Raorane had crossed the km 413 checkpoint but had yet to reach Break Point A, the first of the six break points where riders can rest for the night. The other Indian rider in the fray, Jatin Jain, had at the time of publishing, crossed the km 320 checkpoint and had a long ride ahead of him to reach BP A.
Dakar 2025 Stage 2 Day 1 Results - Cars
In the cars category, it was Overdrive Racing's Yazzed Al Rajhi gave the home fans quite a bit to cheer for as the Saudi driver led for most of the day, bringing home his Toyota Hilux into BP E in 6 hours, 57 minutes and 03 seconds.
Hot on the heels of Rajhi all the way to BP E was 5-time Dakar winner Nasser Al Attiyah. The Qatari brought his Dacia Sandrider into BP E, one minute and 19 seconds behind Rajhi.
Ford's Mattias Ekstrom in his Raptor, held the final podium spot at the end of Day 1 of the 48-hour Chrono Stage 2. The Swedish driver, a former Rallycross and DTM champion, ended the day, 8 minutes and 55 seconds off the pace set by Rajhi today.
Toyota's Henk Lategan and Overdrive Racing's Juan Yacopini rounded off the top 5 in the cars category. Lategan was 11 minutes and 13 seconds off the pace, while Yacopini ended the day, 13 minutes and 12 seconds behind Rajhi.
Looking back to the other race favourites, Ford's Nani Roma, ended the day in 8th place, 18 minutes and 14 seconds behind Rajhi. Carlos Sainz Sr., the defending champion, ended the day in 25th place. El Matador, a four-time winner of the Dakar, flipped his Raptor on the dunes and ended the day, 59 minutes and 19 seconds off the pace.
The second and third Dacia Sandriders driven by Sebastien Loeb and Cristina Gutiérrez developed problems just past the 400km mark and had to stop for a while at the refuelling point at km 413 mark of the special. Loeb ended the day in 17th place, giving up 32 minutes and 30 seconds to Rajhi while Gutiérrez ended up as the last driver to enter BP E in 27th overall, 1 hour, 20 minutes and 27 seconds behind Rajhi.
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