Dakar delight for Ventura as he secures maiden Rally2 stage victory

Martim Ventura delivered a spectacular performance in Saudi Arabia to claim his first-ever Dakar Rally stage victory and the maiden stage win for the Monster Energy Honda HRC Rally2 team.

After an impressive showing on the opening full stage of this year’s event, where he finished runner-up, Ventura came into the day highly motivated and firmly focused on securing another good result aboard his Honda CRF450RX RALLY.

Departing from the Yanbu bivouac, which the Dakar will return to later in the rally, riders faced a demanding 400 km timed special.  The stage combined technical passages through the towering Hejaz Mountains with fast sandy tracks and scattered dunes, before finishing near the ancient city of AlUla.

Ventura quickly found his rhythm and mixed it with the RallyGP frontrunners, running inside the top four early on.  As the stage unfolded, an intense duel developed between the 25-year-old Portuguese rider and Michael Docherty, with just two seconds separating them at one point.  The pair traded blows throughout the remainder of the stage, but Ventura ultimately emerged victorious, winning by nearly two minutes.  He now sits just 19 seconds off the overall lead in the general classification.

Preston Campbell also impressed, setting the fastest time at the opening checkpoint. Building on the lessons learned from stage one, he managed the dusty conditions well to secure a strong third-place finish.  That result propels him from seventh to fourth overall.

With the riders safely settled at the AlUla bivouac, attention now turns to stage three.  The rugged terrain surrounding the region promises plenty of navigation challenges on a long and punishing day, with over 700 km to be covered, including 422 km against the clock, as the relentless demands of this year’s Dakar Rally continue.