Dakar 2009: First Interviews after Stage 2.

At the wheel of a Race Touareg with a slightly crumpled right wing, Carlos Sainz crossed the finishing line of today’s special stage as the winner… The Spaniard also takes the lead in the general standings. "It was a very difficult stage with all the dust and the bikes. At times, we nearly had to stop. I even hit a biker at one point; I hope he’s going to be ok". 

1.56 behind the day’s winner Carlos Sainz, Giniel De Villiers displayed good consistency by finishing 3rd in the special stage, like yesterday. "The start of the special was very quick, but as soon as we arrived in the off-track part, it was not very easy to navigate and we got a little bit lost. We must have lost a minute or two. Then in the last section, there was lots of fesh-fesh, so it was very difficult to get past the bikers. But I tried to be cautious and avoid any mishaps. We didn’t do too badly". 

Slowly but surely, the title holder is getting stronger. While still adapting to his brand new Mitsubishi Lancer, Peterhansel manage to pick up second place on the special. "This special stage was a bit more technical. There was some off-terrain work for the first time, so we had to be on our guard. But, it was okay. I caught up with Luc (Alphand) at one point. After that, we ended up in the dust thrown up by the bikers then by Miller (VW). It wasn’t very nice, until we were able to overtake him. It was a short special but, in spite of that, there were some big fesh-fesh sections with quite thick vegetation. We were almost stopped at that point, because visibility was down to 1 or 2 meters. The bikers were all over the place, so we had to be very careful". (Marathonrally.com)