DAKAR 2020

BIANCHI: "SECOND PLACE IS EXCELLENT”

Conrad Rautenbach / Pedro Bianchi Prata today led part of Stage 2 of the Dakar 2020 that is being played in Saudi Arabia, ending the day in second place. With this result the team rose to the 6th place in the absolute overall SSV classification.
The PH Sport that the Portuguese Marco de Canaveses shares with the Zimbabwean pilot was the 13th to go to the track, after the SSV piloted by both Reinaldo Varela and Cyril Despres were placed in front of him.
Soon the team began to roll in first positions and by km 214 was already in the lead. He was at the front of the race close to a hundred kilometres from a very demanding journey, as he explains.

Pedro Bianchi says:
"Today has been a busy day. They gave us the road book 15 minutes before we left, and that's how long I had to go over it and add what I thought was most needed. Conrad had a magnificent piloting. Very fast, but without taking any chances. After refueling, we broke. A little touch of a rock took our first place. It was a bit inglorious after being so careful to avoid stones. The final part was a lot more confusing. We leave in the middle of cars and trucks and catch the latest bikes, which makes navigation even more complicated. Even in the end I had a small flaw that I quickly corrected, but it was enough for some more time lost. However, the second place is excellent and we will continue to give our best " 


Paulo Fiúza and Peterhansel with a complicated start 
The life of Paulo Fiúza next to Stéphane Peterhansel is not easy, as the duo has already had some setbacks that ‘threw’ them into the eighth place overall, more than 20 minutes away from the leader, but the differences are still small and the Dakar has just begun.
A problem in the direction of the Mini-Quads on the second day of the event determined the outcome, then they have been runners-up in the opening: “Today was a strange day, because sometimes we thought that we were the leaders, the kings, and that we had found the right path, but after a few miles we lost everything and we were going around in circles.
The biggest mistake was only ten kilometers before the final said when we were leading with Carlos (Sainz) and we made a turn but we were not able to find the track.
We spent maybe ten minutes driving around. Then all the cars came after US and we were all together, but just five kilometers before the end we had a technical problem: my steering wheel was completely off the axle-I turned the steering wheel and nothing happened to the wheels... it was a very strange feeling because we were moving fast and we were lucky to be in a straight line. To have no direction is a very strange feeling".

José Luis Abreu, from Portugal