Stage report
Dakar Dakar
Dakar 2019, Stage 2: Walkner beats Brabec in close fight
Reigning Dakar champion Matthias Walkner topped the second stage of the rally after trailing Ricky Brabec for most of the day, as Honda's Joan Barreda kept the overall lead.
David Gruz
Edited: Jan 9, 2019, 11:53 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Walkner and Brabec were closely matched throughout the entire day, the duo running less than 10 seconds apart in the first three waypoints.
Brabec was able to inch away during the middle phase but before he could run away with the stage win, Walkner closed down the gap and went on to beat the American by 22 seconds.
There are only two seconds between the pair in the overall order, with Walkner ahead, but they are only in second and third as Stage 1 winner Barreda remains ahead.
Barreda was best of the rest in Stage 2 in third but he enjoyed a strong finish, nearly halving his gap to the frontrunners and keeping a 1m31s overall lead as a result.
Walkner's KTM teammate Toby Price had a poor start to the day as he lost three minutes already before the opening waypoint, but the 2016 champion did well not to lose any more time and took fourth.
He beat Husqvarna's Pablo Quintanilla by 18 seconds - they also hold fourth and fifth in the overall standings but with the Chilean ahead of Price.
Sam Sunderland (KTM) was sixth in the stage ahead of Adrien van Beveren, who led Yamaha's efforts but was still over nine minutes off the pace.
The top 10 was completed by Kevin Benavides (Honda), Andrew Short (Husqvarna) and Jose Ignacio Cornejo (Honda).
Cavigliasso dominates quad class
Nicolas Cavigliasso established himself as the favourite in the quad class by taking a dominant second win in Stage 2.
Cavigliasso was in a class of his own, ending the 342 km stage with a lead of 11m18s over fellow Argentinian Gustavo Gallego.
With that, he already has a lead of 21m14s over Gallego in the overall order.
Alexandre Giroud put pressure on Gallego for second but in the end settled for third, ahead of the Chilean Giovanni Enrico and Czech racer Tomas Kubiena.
Giroud is also third in the overall standings ahead of Kubiena and Jeremias Gonzalez, who was second on Day 1 but was nearly half an hour off the pace in Stage 2.
Standings after Stage 2 (Bike class, Top 10):
Pos. Rider Bike Time/Gap 1 
Joan Barreda Honda 4h23m14s 2 
Matthias Walkner KTM 1m31s 3 
Ricky Brabec Honda 1m33s 4 
Pablo Quintanilla Husqvarna 3m17s 5 
Toby Price KTM 4m33s 6 
Sam Sunderland KTM 7m18s 7 
Adrien van Beveren Yamaha 10m19s 8 
Kevin Benavides Honda 12m18s 9 Jose Ignacio Cornejo Honda 17m24s 10 Andrew Short Husqvarna 17m37s
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Dakar 2019, Stage 2: Loeb beats Roma by 8s
Next article Al-Attiyah confirms Alonso wants Dakar Toyota test
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
David Gruz
Honda reveals 2020 World Superbike challenger
World Superbike
World Superbike Feb 21, 2020
Honda reveals 2020 World Superbike challenger
Redding: Bautista cost himself 2019 WSBK crown
World Superbike
World Superbike Feb 18, 2020
Redding: Bautista cost himself 2019 WSBK crown
Espargaro: Aprilia showed podium pace at Sepang
MotoGP
MotoGP
Sepang February testing
Feb 13, 2020
Espargaro: Aprilia showed podium pace at Sepang
More from
Matthias Walkner
KTM relying on motocross knowhow in bid to dethrone Honda
Dakar
Dakar
Dakar
Dec 31, 2021
KTM relying on motocross knowhow in bid to dethrone Honda
KTM: Seeing Dakar streak snapped was "painful"
Dakar
Dakar
Dakar
Jan 19, 2020
KTM: Seeing Dakar streak snapped was "painful"
Honda has "much better cards" for Dakar win than KTM
Dakar
Dakar
Dakar
Jan 11, 2020
Honda has "much better cards" for Dakar win than KTM
Latest news
Tom Cruise interested in racing ARCA car, per NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
5 h
Tom Cruise interested in racing ARCA car, per NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell
Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
8 h
Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
9 h
William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix
Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 9 h
Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe