00:00The mechanical assistance was welcome, given almost no one survived the rocking and rolling of the opening 142 kilometers.
00:12Good thing the crews were in place to lift these magnificent beasts up, peel away the battered shoes, change their colossal hooves and send them galloping back into the fray.
00:2413th on his debut last edition, Michael Valtre with a positive start to sit inside the overall top 10.
00:33The Czech driver will hope to still be trucking hard come his 38th birthday in four days' time.
00:39Puncture stole the limelight even when there weren't any.
00:43Mitchell van der Brink changed his overheated back tires to successively avoid them, but the switch didn't run smoothly.
00:50Time lost, but still the category leader.
00:53Not so lucky was the Tatra of Karel Poslezny.
00:57A second attempt at the toughest race in the world, losing his bonnet and hours in the bargain.
01:04Martin Masik was hoping for a nice stage, instead he was caught in a dust storm.
01:09Despite that, the pace was good, except when they had to climb out from a sea of rocks after missing an unseen corner.
01:17Successive third place finishes for the two-time defending champion.
01:22Battling the Czech star on the day was via Dotas Jala.
01:26The Lithuanian called the day brutal, that left him feeling like a punching bag.
01:30But he remained in contention for the second day running, Jala edging Masik.
01:35But they didn't see the Renault Bruiser coming through.
01:39Having run into trouble on stage one, everything went right for Gert Husink today.
01:44The Dutchman earning his first win on the Dakar since two special wins in 2024.
01:49Yesterday we were unlucky, we had a technical problem, so we lost some time.
01:56But yesterday we were already the quickest.
01:59And then it's nice that we can show it on the second day that we and the Turks are at this moment the quickest.
02:07Husink the winner just over half a minute from Jala.
02:15The Lithuanian Masik thought they were battling for first, but each settled a run down the stage podium.
02:21Husink leaping up to sixth overall, but it's his young compatriot Mitchell van der Brink who holds just over three minutes on Jala and the defending champion.
02:29.
