Lithuanian driver Rokas Baciuška proved he's a contender in the Dakar Rally when he won the longest stage in the Saudi Arabia desert on Monday.
Baciuška was 22 minutes off the lead starting the second half of the two-day, 967-kilometer second stage. But on the day's 341-kilometer drive back to Bisha, he finished within seven minutes of provisional winner Yazeed Al Rajhi, and hours later was promoted to stage winner.
Baciuška was given back time lost for faulty refueling, giving him the win by nearly three minutes over Al Rajhi. Juan Cruz Yacopini of Argentina was also promoted after the race to third, giving the Overdrive Racing team's Toyotas 1-2-3 on the stage.
Al Rajhi and Nasser Al-Attiyah's Dacia dueled over the entire stage, and were as close as 20 seconds apart. But at the finish they were penalized two and four minutes respectively for exceeding speed limits.
Baciuška's credentials aren't in dispute. He made the podium in his first three Dakars in the buggy classes, and turned them into world rally-raid titles the last three years.
This year he's stepped up to the major car category, reunited with his first Dakar co-driver, Oriol Mena, after his usual partner Oriol Vidal withdrew with a back injury. They got off to a horrible start on stage one when mechanical problems cost them 2 hours, 20 minutes.
But by Sunday night, despite another late mishap, Baciuška was only 22 minutes off the pace.
Another big improver was Sebastien Loeb, who rebounded from engine fan problems on Sunday by slashing 15 minutes on Monday to finish only 16 minutes back in seventh.
Defending champion Carlos Sainz, who landed on his roof on Sunday, lost more time on Monday and finished more than 1 1/2 hours behind.
Overall, the leader was South Africa's Henk Lategan after finishing fourth on the stage; Al Rajhi was nearly five minutes behind, and Al-Attiyah third more than 11 minutes back.
“The dust was a problem for most of the stage,” Lategan said. “The navigation was also super, super tricky. Brett (Cummings, co-driver) did really well. It's actually a big surprise to be first because we haven't been really focusing on it. But I'm happy with that. We've been playing a more strategic game over these two days.”
Toby Price and navigator Sam Sunderland, both two-time motorbike champions trying four wheels for the first time, were fourth.
In the motorbike class, Daniel Sanders became the first rider to win three consecutive stages since Joan Barreda in 2017.
Sanders was seventh to start the day but the Australian caught the pathfinders after about 150 kilometers and controlled the rest of the race.
After 11 hours of racing over two days, Sanders won the stage by more than seven minutes from American Skyler Howes. Spain's Tosha Schareina, who opened the way, was only another four seconds back.
Overall, Sanders was more than 12 minutes up on Howes and Botswana's Ross Branch.
Defending champion Ricky Brabec fell 15 minutes back in fifth.
“The body feels good and I don't feel tired at all,” Sanders said. “I just saved a lot of energy ready for next week. It was good to get the stage win, but it was on me to decide whether I wanted today or not.”
Stage three heading north on Tuesday was reduced by 169 kilometers to 327 kilometers because of storms in the Al Henakiyah region.
