In the second fast stage, Loprais stayed close with the leaders of the race. He finished 5th and became 6th place overall.
The Stage in San Rafael was more substantial than the initial warm-up menu. The 295 km long special, which followed the poisonous, almost 500 km long shift, competitors climbed to an altitude of 2000 meters and the reservation Nihuil, know also the first dune mountains. The local gray dunes are the traditional coloring of this South American Dakar. Ales started the stage from 10th position until he gradually improved. The third checkpoint he was eighth, but then accelerated stage and finished fifth, just 6 minutes behind winner Gerard de Rooy, who his bonneted Iveco Powerstar had to chase a stage victory with MAN Franz Echter , but he lost at the end of 20 minutes and fell in the overall pořadí. The race was a hard battle between two teams: Iveco de Rooy and Veka MAN. Their duel, however, was eventually shared by the young pilots Kamaz, Nikolayev and Ajrat Mardějev who broke into the first quad of overall standings, Ales is followed. Gradually, however, recruit additional delays – going well so far lost Dutchman van Ginkel and van den Brink and the GINAF, Echter said.
The third stage in San Juan will offer again very short, only 203 km long special with quite a technical course in the foothills of the Andes. Broken profile special, slow, could collide with the ambitions of the rather fast Dutch crews. We’ll see whether it will suit the traditional Tatra chassis.