The 48-hour Chrono Stage put the convoy of the 2025 Dakar Rally into survival mode from start to finish. The two-day, 1,000 kilometre challenge over mixed terrain, including dunes, pushed competitors to the absolute limit. As well as high-profile retirements there were also some surprising names rising up the rankings. Let’s assess the scene after a truly wild ride…
Nasser Al-Attiyah attacked from the front for two full days to put his Dacia Sandrider on the overall podium. The five-time Dakar winner has given himself the perfect platform to fight for the lead over the 10 stages still to come at this desert odyssey.
« We had a puncture for the last 50km and also an issue with the power-steering. It was tough to get through this stage with all the dust. We’re now third overall and with a good road position for tomorrow. » – Nasser Al-Attiyah
Al-Attiyah’s Dacia team-mate Sébastien Loeb battled back from an overheating issue to end the stage strongly and finish less than 20 minutes behind overall Ultimate class leader Henk Lategan. The news was not so positive for the third Dacia driver, Cristina Gutiérrez. The Spaniard was towed out of the special stage at the 729km mark by her assistance truck.
Ultimate class rookies Toby Price and Sam Sunderland are up to fourth overall after a near faultless performance on the 48-hour Chrono Stage. With Price behind the wheel and Sunderland reading the roadbook, this pair of former champion bikers have adapted quickly to their new challenge.
« That was a mission for sure! At one point we got past Nasser and we were opening the way, but then he just blew back by us. Sammy did a great job and I gave his head a good rattle. » – Toby Price
Setting the fastest time through the mammoth stage was another Ultimate class rookie, Rokas Baciuška. The Lithuanian driver stuck to his task despite getting caught up in traffic during the stage (Baciuška was later given back the time he lost at refuelling).
« This was a hard stage for everyone. The route to our overnight bivouac was not easy to manage. I think we won the stage because we got held up at the refuelling for over 10 minutes so they need to compensate us that time. » – Rokas Baciuška
Dakar debutants M-Sport Ford had mixed results on the two-day stage. Mattias Ekström drove his Ford Raptor T1+ to eighth place on the stage and now sits in fifth place overall. Ekström is joined in the Top 10 by his Ford team-mate Mitch Guthrie Jr. who is enjoying his first shot at the Ultimate class.
« It feels like we just finished the whole rally, but it’s only Stage 2! We had a good first day getting used to the car in the dunes. We had some craziness; helping out Carlos, getting stuck and a bit of navigation. We ended up opening for a while on the dunes so that was a first for me. » – Mitch Guthrie Jr.
There were bumps in road for the Raptors driven by defending champion Carlos Sainz and former Dakar winner Nani Roma. Sainz’s Raptor flipped over in the dunes on the first day of the 48-hour stage and will be inspected by the FIA to determine if he is given the green light to restart the rally on tomorrow’s stage. Meanwhile, Roma came to a stop 766km into the special and was towed back to Bisha.
Toyota Gazoo Racing drivers Lucas Moraes and Seth Quintero remain in contact with the front of the race while Giniel de Villiers and Guillaume De Mévius both suffered significant time losses on their two-day adventure over the dunes.
Watch our clip covering the coolest and craziest vehicles of the Dakar here
Daniel Sanders’s impeccable start to the 2025 Dakar Rally continued on the 48-hour Chrono Stage. The Australian biker covered the 958km distance in a time of 11h12m13s and once again set the fastest time on two wheels. Sanders’s rapid start to this Dakar has given him an early lead in the overall rankings of 12m36s over second placed biker Skyler Howes.
« When you’re opening there’s no line so you didn’t know if it’s going to be a soft or hard dune. Everyone bunched up because of the dust so we were fighting to get ahead and get the opening bonus. I don’t feel tired at all and I’m ready for what’s still to come. » – Daniel Sanders
Sanders’s Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team-mate Luciano Benavides is sixth overall, a little over 20 minutes off the lead. Luciano’s older brother Kevin Benavides is also still in the fight despite his race against the clock to recover from injuries sustained last season.
The fourth Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider Edgar Canet is placed top of the Rally2 rankings after four days of racing at the Dakar. The rookie stood up to everything the 48-hour Chrono Stage threw at him.
« It’s by far the longest stage I’ve ever done in my life. I didn’t crash or get lost for a lot of time so for this I’m happy. Now I’ll rest for tomorrow » – Edgar Canet
Things remain bunched up in the Challenger class with Gonçalo Guerreiro leading the charge for the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team. The Portuguese rookie has his Taurus T3 Max just 6m20s off race leader Nicolas Cavigliasso.
« We had a tense moment in the dunes yesterday but we were able to fix the car. No issues other than that and we’re still in the game. » – Gonçalo Guerreiro
Guerreiro’s fellow Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team driver Corbin Leaverton is also on the overall podium. The American holds third place in the general classification after achieving the same result on the 48-hour Chrono Stage.
« Man, I’m happy to be here at the end of the 48-hour Chrono Stage. This is something that everybody, including myself, was a little worried about. » – Corbin Leaverton
The Taurus T3 Max machines of Pau Navarro and Dania Akeel are separated by just 30 seconds after more than 17 hours of racing at the 2025 Dakar Rally. Navarro is fifth overall in the Challenger class while Akeel is sixth.
« That was the longest stage I ever drove in my life. We did lose time here and there for minor things, but there were no major issues. I think we went up in the overall rankings of our class so I’m happy. » – Dania Akeel
The 48-hour Chrono Stage was tough on Francisco López in the SSV class as he lost close to three hours on the race leader. The Chilean will now work on his Can-Am with his team of mechanics and hope for better on the 10 remaining stages of this Dakar.
Tomorrow sees the 2025 Dakar Rally depart Bisha for the final time and head north to Al Henakiyah. The opening section of Stage 3 will be technical and a test for the bikers in particular. Then, the speeds will be stepped up as the convoy moves towards its new home for the night. The timed special stage measures a modified distance of 327km, plus there’s also a liaison route of 521km to tackle.
Selected Standings after Stage 2
ULTIMATE
1: Henk Lategan (ZAF) / Brett Cummings (ZAF) – Toyota 15:40:30
3: Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) / Edouard Boulanger (FRA) – Dacia +11:14
4: Toby Price (AUS) / Sam Sunderland (GBR) – Toyota +11:44
5: Mattias Ekström (SWE) / Emil Bergkvist (SWE) – Ford +13:16
6: Sébastien Loeb (FRA) / Fabian Lurquin (BEL) – Dacia +18:56
7: Lucas Moraes (BRA) / Armand Monleon (ESP) – Toyota +20:57
8: Mitch Guthrie Jr. (USA) / Kellon Walch (USA) – Ford +23:33
13: Seth Quintero (USA) / Dennis Zenz (DEU) – Toyota +40:47
20: Carlos Sainz (ESP) / Lucas Cruz (ESP) – Ford +01:30:11
23: Giniel de Villiers (ZAF) / Dirk von Zitzewitz (DEU) – Toyota +02:21:06
24: Rokas Baciuška (LTU) / Oriol Mena (ESP) – Toyota +02:21:14
29: Guillaume De Mévius (BEL) / Mathieu Baumel (FRA) – MINI +02:36:52
53: Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP) / Pablo Moreno (ESP) – Dacia +36:11:51
54: Nani Roma (ESP) / Alex Haro (ESP) – Ford +41:04:06
CHALLENGER
1: Nicolas Cavigliasso (ARG) / Valentina Pertegarini (ARG) – Taurus 16:45:02
2: Gonçalo Guerreiro (POR) / Cadu Sachs (BRA) – Taurus +06:20
3: Corbin Leaverton (USA) / Taye Perry (DEU) – Taurus +18:24
5: Pau Navarro (ESP) / Lisandro Sisterna (ARG) – Taurus +27:39
6: Dania Akeel (SAU) / Stéphane Duplé (FRA) – Taurus +28:09
SSV
1: Xavier De Soultrait (FRA) / Martin Bonnet (FRA) – Polaris 16:57:52
9: Francisco López (CHL) / Juan Pablo Latrach (CHL) – CAN-AM +02:49:12
BIKE
1: Daniel Sanders (AUS) – KTM 16:10:31
6: Luciano Benavides (ARG) – KTM +22:31
10: Edgar Canet (ESP) – KTM +54:17
27: Kevin Benavides (ARG) – KTM +01:49:39
43: Mohammed Balooshi (UAE) – Fantic +03:23:59
QUOTES
Nasser Al-Attiyah: « Both yesterday and today were very difficult. We had a puncture for the last 50km and also an issue with the power-steering. It was tough to get through this stage with all the dust. We’re now third overall and with a good road position for tomorrow. »
Toby Price: « That was a mission for sure! Day one went really well for us with just a little bit of drama and struggle. The amount of dust that gets kicked up when you’re in a car means you can’t see anything. At one point we got past Nasser and we were opening the way, but then he just blew back by us. Sammy did a great job and I gave his head a good rattle. »
Mattias Ekström: « Yesterday was smooth for us, but today was really eventful. I think we ended up losing 15 minutes to the leader. We had some issues ourselves so we’re happy to get this stage done. »
Sébastien Loeb: « The stage was nearly 1,000 kilometres long. We had a problem with the engine overheating because of an issue with the fans. We lost about 40 minutes because of this. Once we got that repaired we were pushing at the maximum and we were able to take back a lot of time. We finished the stage less than 14 minutes off the front and it could have been much worse. »
Lucas Moraes: « Yesterday was tough because we lost a bunch of time but we gained experience. Armand and myself opened for 100km in the dunes so of course I made some mistakes, I’m still learning. Today at least we managed to put the hammer down and we didn’t lose more time. »
Mitch Guthrie Jr.: « It feels like we just finished the whole rally, but it’s only Stage 2. We had a good first day getting used to the car in the dunes. We had some craziness; helping out Carlos, getting stuck and a bit of navigation. Today was another tough day, we ended up opening for a while on the dunes so that was a first for me! We kept it clean and made it home. »
Seth Quintero: « Unfortunately we had an electrical issue with the roadbook 200km into this 971km stage while we were opening. It’s frustrating to get an issue like this. It cost us a lot time. We were doing great before that, nobody had caught us before the tyre change. We’re still not too far off the lead, but it could have been a lot less. »
Carlos Sainz: « We need to keep going and keep learning. We’ll do what we can to help the team. »
Rokas Baciuška: « This was a hard stage for everyone. The route to our overnight bivouac was not easy to manage. I think we won the stage because we got held up at the refuelling for over 10 minutes so they need to compensate us that time. »
Daniel Sanders: « It was pretty hard in the soft dunes and it was very tough for a lot of us. When you’re opening there’s no line so you didn’t know if it was going to be a soft or hard dune. Everyone bunched up because of the dust so we were fighting to get ahead and get the opening bonus. I don’t feel tired at all and I’m ready for what’s still to come. »
Luciano Benavides: « The 48-hour Chrono is done. It was a crazy stage. Yesterday I crashed in the first kilometres and broke my handguard. In this type of stage with so much vegetation my hand hit so many plants so that was not ideal. There wasn’t too much strategy you could do on this stage because everybody was catching each other and we rode in a group. »
Edgar Canet: « I’m happy to cross the finish line of the 48-hour stage. It was a long, long stage. 947 kilometres is by far the longest stage I’ve ever done in my life. I didn’t crash or get lost for a lot of time so for this I’m happy. Now I’ll rest for tomorrow. »
Kevin Benavides : « Honestly, I just tried to survive this stage. There were a lot of soft dunes on both days. I crashed in the dunes and sometimes I had to push the bike. Yesterday I raced 600km and today 350km. It was physically tough and I suffered a lot. »
Mohammed Balooshi: « The two days were very tough, very long. I crashed maybe six or seven times. I made all the mistakes a rider can make. Now I need to regain my focus. From tomorrow I’m very optimistic because I finished strongly today and I’m getting to know the bike. »
Gonçalo Guerreiro: « I knew that this stage would be a big challenge and it’s good to arrive back in the bivouac. We had a tense moment in the dunes yesterday but we were able to fix the car. No issues other than that and we’re still in the game. »
Corbin Leaverton: « Man, I’m happy to be here at the end of the 48-hour Chrono stage. This is something that everybody, including myself, was a little worried about. Our plan is to play it safe, keep it clean and to be there at the end. I’m here to be in the hunt for the overall win. »
Pau Navarro: « This was an amazing stage and the best stage that we’ve done so far. The stage had everything and was really complicated. We enjoyed it. »
Dania Akeel: « That was the longest stage I ever drove in my life. We did lose time here and there for minor things, but there were no major issues. I think we went up in the overall rankings of our class so I’m happy. »
Christine Fial,