The last part of the Cordoba-La Rioja stage was when Al-Attiyah really got up to speed, as he took the lead from BMW X-Raid's Guerlain Chicherit and eventually crossed the finish line ahead of the Frenchman by more than one minute (1:08 minutes). Third overall was VW's Mauricio Neves, followed by another VW duo Carlos Sainz and Mark Miller.
“Very, very difficult: raining, muddy, slippery, foggy – everything. But it's good that we have experience of this, and we had no mistakes,” admitted Al-Attiyah after the second stage of the rally, which was delayed by half-an-hour due to poor weather.
First stage winner Nani Roma had a difficult day on Monday, as the BMW driver crashed his car in the early minutes of the Cordoba to La Rioja stage and lost no less than 15 minutes in the overall classification to the new leader Al-Attiyah. Although their BMW rolled several times during the crash, neither Roma nor his co-driver sustained any serious injuries, eventually coming to the finish line in 8th place.
In the overall classification, Al-Attiyah now leads from rival Sainz by one minute and 19 seconds, while Stephane Peterhansel will keep his 3rd position ahead of Stage 3, some one minute and 11 seconds further behind.
Here is the Overall Top 10 in the car category after Stage 2:
1. Nasser Al-Attiyah (VW) 6:16:39
2. Carlos Sainz (VW) + 01:19
3. Stephane Peterhansel (BMW) + 02:30
4. Mark Miller (VW) + 05:28
5. Mauricio Neves (VW) + 05:40
6. Giniel de Villiers (VW) + 07:17
7. Carlos Sousa (Mitsubishi) + 10:13
8. Nani Roma (BMW) + 11:44
9. Robby Gordon (Hummer) + 12:28
10. Christian Lavieille (Nissan) + 12:50
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