Overview
- Seth Quintero won the 400km special to Al Ula in 3:57:16, leading a Toyota top-five lockout and delivering the new Hilux its first Dakar stage victory.
- Nasser Al-Attiyah moved to the top of the car classification by seven seconds over Quintero despite finishing outside the top five on the stage.
- Henk Lategan finished second on the day, Yazeed Al-Rajhi rebounded to third, with Toby Price fourth and João Ferreira fifth for Toyota.
- In the bikes, Daniel Sanders took Stage 2 and the overall lead by 30 seconds from KTM teammate Edgar Canet, with Ricky Brabec third overall.
- After two stages the top seven cars are split by less than three minutes, and Stage 3’s 422km Al Ula loop is expected to test navigation and reshuffle positions.