The Sanz–Gerini duo finish 21st and climb to 22nd overall after a tough, rocky special stage.
The EBRO s800 XRR shows its competitiveness in the opening kilometres, running among the top ten before airborne dust forced them to slow down.
Laia Sanz: “We’re doing what we need to do: be consistent and avoid mistakes. Two or three positions higher today wouldn’t have changed anything, and tomorrow we’ll start in an ideal situation.”
Stage two completed, and a second consecutive day of positive feelings for EBRO Audax Motorsport. After finishing 25th yesterday, Laia Sanz and Maurizio Gerini once again drove at a high level this Monday to end up just outside the Top 20, this time in 21st place, 13 minutes and 59 seconds behind the leader. This result allows them to move up to 22nd overall, 23:14 off the lead.
The Dakar caravan has left Yanbu behind and headed into north-west Saudi Arabia on a 504-kilometre route — 400 of them timed — bound for AlUla. The special stage ran through canyons and mountains — where rocks again took centre stage, as on the previous day — as well as sandy plains and the first dunes of this edition.
The day started brilliantly for the Spanish-Italian pair. Over the first 70 kilometres, the EBRO s800 XRR ran at the front, hovering between 9th and 11th place, confirming the vehicle’s competitiveness in the hands of Sanz and Gerini. However, airborne dust affected a large part of the stage.
“We started very well, but then we ran into a lot of dust for about a hundred kilometres and we had to back off, because we were in a group where it was impossible to overtake,” explains Laia Sanz.
Aware of how punishing the terrain was, the Catalan driver opted for smart mechanical management to avoid trouble: “It was a very tough and uncomfortable special stage, with lots of rocks. Today’s goal was not to make mistakes, and we were very careful not to puncture. The two times we did this stage in the past, it didn’t go well at all for us, so we decided to be conservative. We’re doing what we need to do, which is to be consistent and avoid mistakes. Two or three positions higher don’t change anything, and for tomorrow we have a good starting position. We’re very happy.”
This Tuesday, 6 January, Dakar will mark Three Kings’ Day with a third stage starting and finishing in AlUla. The day will feature 244 kilometres of liaison and 422 kilometres against the clock on dirt and sand tracks. Navigation is expected to be one of the key factors of the day, putting the coordination between Sanz and her co-driver Maurizio Gerini to the test.
Source: EBRO Audax Motorsport
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