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| Dubbed ‘The Shadow Rider’ after this photo, Dakar racer José Florimo yesterday finished in 5th place overall on his Honda. |
In yesterday’s Dakar Stage 2, three-times Dakar winnner Nasser Al Attiyah raced his made-in-SA Hilux through the ranks to a stage win, leaving the Mini buggies of Stephane Peterhansel and Carlos Sainz over two minutes behind in second and third place.
Local hero Yazeen Al Rajhi ended fourth in another Toyota Gazoo Racing Hilux on stage 2, which saw 55 cars line up for 457 km of dune and rock racing on the 685 km-long stage.
Further back SA rookies, Brian Baragwanath and Taye Perry, are seventh overall in their Century CR6 Corvette buggy. Fellow SA racers Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings got stuck in a dune and placed 12th in their Hilux while Giniel de Villiers dropped to 24th after losing some 40 minutes on the tough route.
Among the 93 bikes in the race, Botswana’s Ross Branch, aka “Kalahari Ferrari”, is fourth overall on his Yamaha, mere seconds behind the day’s winners, Joan Barreda and his Honda teammate Ricky Brabec.
At 18 years old, Barreda is the youngest racer yet to win a special in any category in the Dakar.
Among the 20 trucks in the race, the Russians are leading in two Kamaz trucks driven by Dimitri Sotnikov and Airat Mardeev, with Belarusian Siharei Viazovich third in a MAZ.
