Hybrid Audis set the tone for Dakar 2024: Peterhansel wins stage with record and Sainz leads overall

Day of absolute happiness in the team Audi Motorsport. As few times the Germans celebrated in their bunker inside the Dakar 2024 field by taking two of their cars to the top at the start of the great adventure in Saudi Arabia: Stephane Peterhansel won the second stage, while his teammate, Carlos Sainzleads the overall classification of the cars, both with Audi RSQ e-tron.

The vehicle used by the German brand, with which it also competes Mattias Ekstromuses a revolutionary technology for the history of the competition, as it is powered by electric batteries, which in turn receive energy from a combustion engine.

“We did a great job. After the Prologue, in which we started unexpectedly, we recovered and found our way again together with Lucas (Cruz, the navigator). It’s always nice to be at the front, but in a Dakar there isn’t much to say once it’s started, there’s still a lot to do,” underlined the Spanish rider.

Meanwhile, his teammate Peterhansel, legendary in the Dakar, equals another historic victory with the partial victory, Ari Vatanen, with 50 victories. “It is an honor to tie Vatanen. In any case, these are victories in cars, I have many more on motorbikes”, underlined the Frenchman.

The Argentine Juan Cruz Yacopini He fell behind in the stage, placing 36th. In the light cars, Nicolás Cavigliasso placed 9th and remains 8th in his category, while David Zille was difficult on the day.

In the quadricycles, bad news for the national representation, given that Francisco Moreno, one of the big favorites for the victory, broke a suspension grid and was eliminated. In the last few hours it was evaluated whether he would be involved in the race.

Manuel Andujar is third and maintains the same position in the general classification, 14 minutes behind the Brazilian Marcelo Medeiros.

In the motorcycles, Luciano Benavides stood out with the Husqvarna, finishing second, behind the Chilean Ignacio Cornejo and placing fourth overall, 13’47 behind the leader, Ross Branch (Hero). Rioja’s Diego Llanos placed 18th (22nd overall), ahead of Kevin Benavides (11th overall). Behind, Santiago Rostan (48th and 57th) and Sebastián Urquía (93rd and 92).

The Half Marathon stage will begin on Monday, departing for Al Salamiya, with a total distance of 733 kilometres. There they will have only two hours of assistance and on Tuesday they will continue towards Al Hofuf.