Bisha – Bisha Stage 967km, liaison 91km 48- Hour Chrono (Part 1)
As its name suggests, stage two is contested over two days without service, although competitors are allowed to help each other in the evening. The riders and crews will be scattered among multiple bivouacs. When the clock strikes 5 pm, all vehicles are required to stop at the next bivouac they come across on the route.
The competitors camp out and set off again at sunrise on Monday to complete the remaining section of the course. By the time the drivers and riders return to Bisha, the motorbikes will have covered 947 kilometers and the cars 967km.
The six break zones that will accommodate the competitors for the night lie between km 491 (zone A) and km 671 (zone F). Depending on how far they make it on Sunday, the entrants will have between 276 and 456 km left on Monday. Honda reckon that their riders will cover 600 to 650 km of special on the first day, which would take them to zone D (km 608), zone E (km 626) or zone F (km 671). Last year, the leading riders and drivers reached the last camp.
At the first waypoint at 42km, it became clear that the teams starting lower down the order had made the right choice to lose time on stage one as seven of the first ten runners had started the stage outside the top 10.
Yazeed Al Rajhi (Toyota Hilux) passed the first waypoint with the fastest time followed by Nasser Al-Attiyah 11 seconds further back and chased by the 2024 Rookie of the Year Guy Botterill and Dennis Murphy, a second up on Mattias Ekstrom’s Ford Raptor. All four had started the stage in 19th, 18th, 14th and 15th position respectively.
The first casualty was Saood Variawa, who stopped for half an hour with a mechanical problem in the opening kilometers before the first waypoint and plummeted to the back of the field.
45km later at waypoint two, all the top ten teams were those that had started the day in ninth or lower. Al Rajhi still led but Botterill was into second, 43 seconds ahead of Al-Attiyah. Henk Lategan had blasted his Toyota Gazoo Racing SA Hilux into ninth and in terms of his overall position, his appeal against Saturday’s 10-minute penalty was successful and the penalty was revoked.
Seth Quintero, who won stage one on Saturday, was languishing down in 18th position…
At km 168, there was a three-minute de-controlled service area to change tyres if needed with some pit stops quicker than others.
At the 169km mark, the top three were covered by 30 seconds; Al-Rajhi was 23 seconds ahead of Ekstrom’s Ford with Al-Attiyah seven seconds further back. De Mevius (Mini), Nani Roma (Ford) and Sebastian Loeb made up the top six.
There was a 15 minute refueling break at km 231 – about a quarter of the way – and it was the ‘big three’ at the top of the stage timesheets after starting the morning in 18th, 19th and 22nd respectively. Al-Attiyah was fastest by 30 seconds from Al Rajhi with Loeb rounding out the podium at this point with the route heading into the first of dunes of the route.
With the W2RC champion in his element, the Qatari opened up a lead of 3 min 48 over Al Rajhi with Loeb 36 seconds behind the Overdrive Toyota pair by waypoint six. Toby Price was doing exceptionally well in fourth, seven seconds up on De Mevius’ Mini.
Nani Roma was the leading Ford in sixth with Mathieu Serradori/Loic Minaudier in seventh as the top Century Racing entry. Ekstrom was ninth with Juan Cruz Yacopini/Daniel Oliveras (Overdrive Toyota Hilux) rounding out the top 10.
Carlos Sainz flipped his Ford Raptor with mainly cosmetic damage at km 327 but continued after a fellow competitor helped right his car, losing 20 minutes and dropping to 16th place and 22 minutes off the lead. Lategan and Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz brought Toyota Gazoo Racing back into the top 10 after the 325km mark.
As the crews headed out of the dunes, Al Rajhi was back in the lead at the 373km mark, 70 seconds up on Al-Attiyah with Nani Roma into third as the leading Ford entry.
There was a brief respite at refuel zone at km 413 although Loeb was in trouble, stopping twice. He ended the day in 17th position, 32 minutes off the lead.
As the crews passed the halfway mark and the first break bivouac, Al Rajhi had a 66 second lead over Al-Attiyah with Yacopini into third, some 5:37 behind the leader. Roma and Ekstrom held fourth and fifth for Ford with Toby Price an excellent sixth on his debut on four wheels.
Lategan, Botterill and de Villiers held seventh, eighth and ninth for Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa with Brian Baragwanath rounding out the top 10 in his Century CR7.
When the clocks hit 5pm Saudi time, crews headed to their nearest bivouac, with the top 27 teams making it to camp E at km 626.
After racing across dirt, sand and stoned tracks, as well as a sprinkling of dunes, Al Rajhi had a 79 second lead over Al-Attiyah while third-placed Ekstrom was 8 min 55 seconds away from the lead.
Henk Lategan was a brilliant fourth overall, 1 min 59 ahead of Juan Cruz Jacopini with Guy Botterill breathing down his neck in sixth, 52 seconds behind the Argentinian Overdrive Toyota crew.
Toby Price was a stunning seventh on his four-wheeled debut, ahead of Nani Roma and Giniel de Villiers, who slowly crept into the top 10 with a consistent drive and was lurking just five seconds behind the Mini.
Mathieu Serradori rounded out the top 10 in his Century CR-7.
The drive of the day came from Saood Variawa and Francois Cazalet who hauled themselves back from 64th at km 87 to 25th when they reached camp E.
Virtual General Ranking: (Provisional)
- Y. Al Rahji/T. Gottschalk Overdrive Toyota Hilux 11:45:24
- N. Al-Attiyah/E. Boulanger Dacia Sandrider +1:19
- H. Lategan/B. Cummings Toyota Gazoo Racing SA Hilux +2:12
- M. Ekstrom/E. Bergkvist M-Sport Ford Raptor +3:44
- G. Botterill/D. Murphy Toyota Gazoo Racing SA Hilux +8:07
- T. Price/S. Sunderland Overdrive Toyota Hilux +9:05
- N. Roma/A. Haro M-Sport Ford Raptor +14:29
- G. de Mevius/M. Baumel X-Raid Mini JCW +17:40
- G. de Villiers/D. von Zitzewitz Toyota Gazoo Racing SA Hilux +17:45
- B. Baragwanath/L. Cremer Century Racing CR-7 +20:45
