Dakar Quads, Stage 2: Casale dominates, Yamahas lock out top 11

The 2014 Dakar quad champion, who led the Prorogue by five seconds, was the pacesetter on each Monday waypoint but the first, where he trailed Peruvian Enrique Umbert Okumura.

As the latter dropped off, Casale edged further and further ahead, comfortably controlling the remainder of the stage.

While a number of other pre-race favorites battled for the runner-up spot, it actually went to South Africa's Brian Baragwanath, contesting his second Dakar after an early retirement in 2015.

Alejandro Patronelli slipped behind Baragwanath in the final stretch to take third, having trailed brother Marcos as well as Lucas Bonetto early on, only for both of them to lose ground. Marcos took fifth behind rookie Marcelo Medeiros, while Bonetto lost more than 10 minutes after the third waypoint and ended up 14th.

Reigning winner Rafal Sonik and runner-up Jeremias Gonzalez took sixth and seventh in a top 11 entirely locked out by Yamaha quads.

Bolivia's Walter Nosiglia was the best of the Hondas in 12th, while Can-Am's top rider Daniel Mazzucco took 21st.

Standings after Stage 2:

Pos.	No.	Rider	Bike	Time/Gap
1	251	Ignacio Casale	Yamaha	4h18m01s
2	274	Brian Baragwanath	Yamaha	4m00s
3	253	Alejandro Patronelli	Yamaha	4m06s
4	292	Marcelo Medeiros	Yamaha	4m23s
5	252	Marcos Patronelli	Yamaha	6m37s
6	250	Rafal Sonik	Yamaha	6m58s
7	254	Jeremias Gonzalez	Yamaha	7m41s
8	268	Giuliano Giordana	Yamaha	9m46s
9	265	Alexis Hernandez	Yamaha	10m10s
10	272	Pablo Copetti	Yamaha	10m22s