Frenchman Cyril Despres wins second stage of Dakar Rally 2018

On Sunday, French driver Cyril Despres from the Peugeot team won the second stage of the Dakar Rally 2018 in the car category. The stage started and finished in the Peruvian city of Pisco. Despres is now the overall leader of the rally, although initially the organization declared South African De Villiers (Toyota) as the winner.

Cyril Despres completed the 267-kilometer timed stage of the Dakar 2018 in 2 hours, 56 minutes and 51 seconds. He finished ahead of his French teammates and fellow Peugeot drivers Stéphane Peterhansel, who came in second, 48 seconds behind Despres, and Sébastien Loeb, who finished third, 3 minutes and 4 seconds behind.

Spanish driver Carlos Sainz, driving the fourth Peugeot buggy, finished in sixth place, 13 minutes and 9 seconds behind De Villiers. Sainz had to stop for about seven minutes at kilometer 70 after recording the fastest time in the first sector of the Dakar 2018 stage.

Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota) finished in eighth place, 14 minutes and 51 seconds behind. He started the stage in first place due to his victory in the opening day of the Dakar 2018. Spanish driver Nani Roma had a difficult day and finished in fourteenth place, 22 minutes and 31 seconds behind, after a time correction in the organization's system.

The second stage of the Dakar 2018 took place mostly on sand, with a first sector through canyons and another across dunes. The off-road sections accounted for 90% of the course.