Two out of two for Sainz
Sunday, 1 January 2006 17:42Former world rally champion Carlos Sainz of Spain made it two wins in two stages on the second day of the Dakar Rally.
Already the winner yesterday after the annual New Year rally got underway in Lisbon, Sainz in a Volkswagen was fastest over the day's 115km timed special stage in southern Portugal clocking 1hr 34min 28sec.
That was 25secs quicker than France's former ski champion Luc Alphand in a Mitsubishi, and 34secs ahead of Nasser Saleh Al Alliyah of Qatar in a BMW.
The Spaniard leads overall by 3mins 45secs ahead of Alphand and 4mins 14secs ahead of another Spaniard Nani Roma in a Mitsubishi.
"It was a great challenge for me," said the 43-year-old Sainz.
"It was what I was looking for."
Portugal's Ruben Faria, riding a KTM, won the motorbike section of the second stage. Faria clocked 1hr 37min 7sec.
He finished ahead of Spain's Esteve Pujol by 1min 7sec with David Casteu of France at 1:28.
Although Faria finished second in the first stage, he has not gained the overall lead because he was given a 12-minute penalty yesterday for not finishing the complete 370km stage within the time limit.
Pujol in fact leads overall by eight seconds from another Spaniard Marc Coma and by 43sec from Portugal's Helder Rodrigues.
Following the timed section, the competitors travel to Malaga in southern Spain to complete the day's 567km stage.
From Malaga, they have a seven-hour boat trip to Morocco for Monday's 672km third stage, between Nador and Er Rachidia, with a 314km timed section.
