Gordon leads, suffers flat; ninth overall in Dakar

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah won the second stage of the Dakar Rally on Sunday, a victory which also gave him the overall lead ahead of Volkswagen teammate Carlos Sainz of Spain and France's Stephane Peterhansel in a BMW.

In the Open category, Robby Gordon led the stage before posting the 11th fastest time at scratch. Gordon is ninth overall -- 12 minutes, 28 seconds behind the leader.

Gordon

"Only problem we had [Sunday] where we lost a lot of time was a flat tire," Gordon said. "To lose 12 minutes isn't too bad at this point and it's all desert [Monday] so it should be good for us."

In the motorbikes category, David Fretigne on a Yamaha was the stage winner, but David Casteau's second-place finish was enough to give him the overall lead. Marc Coma finished third in the stage from Cordoba to La Rioja in north central Argentina.

"Everything is going great," Al-Attiyah said. "Not being happy with [Sunday's] stage would be hard to do. The conditions were pretty difficult. There was rain, fog -- a bit of everything. But it was a good experience because we made no mistake at all."

German driver Mirco Schultis and Swiss partner Ulrich Leardi withdrew from the rally after their 4x4 veered off the course in the first stage on Saturday and rammed into a group of spectators, causing fatal injuries to 28-year-old Sonia Natalia Gallardo.

The spectators were reportedly standing in an unauthorized area when the crash took place.

The dangerous, grueling race was moved to Argentina and Chile last year because of safety concerns and the possibility of a terrorist attack in Africa.

Al-Attiyah holds a 1-minute, 19-second lead over Sainz in the overall standings with Peterhansel 2:30 behind. French driver Guerlain Chicherit in a BMW was second in the stage, ahead of Volkswagen's Mauricio Neves. Sainz was fourth.

BMW driver Nani Roma, winner of the first stage, rolled his car early in the second stage and lost about 15 minutes to leave him in eighth place in the overall standings.

"In the beginning of the stage, I mistook a curve," Roma explained. "The car slipped. I tried to keep it on the trail but I somersaulted twice. I ended up on my wheels in a small gulch. I was able to get out of it so I am very happy to be here in one piece. "

In the bike category, Fretigne finished 43 seconds ahead of Casteu's Sherco in second place and 1:08 in front of Coma's KTM. Casteu's lead in the overall standings was 2:10 ahead of Cyril Despres on a KTM and 2:14 ahead of Fretigne's Yahama.

Monday's third stage goes from La Rioja to Fiambala as the rally approaches the Chilean border. The rally ends Jan. 16 in Buenos Aires, which will wrap up 9,000 kilometers (5,600 miles) across South America.

Versus will provide coverage throughout the United States. A 30-minute daily program featuring highlights from that day's racing will be aired 3:30 p.m. ET daily. The show is set to air Jan. 3-18. An hour-long recap featuring all 14 stages will air at 3 p.m. ET on Jan. 24.

Robbygordon.com, planetrobby.com, Twitter and NASCAR.COM also will have updates on the teams' performance including a daily recap, photos and videos.

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• Gordon sixth in Hummer after first stage of Dakar