2-Trac dominates Dakar

Yamaha’s two-wheel-drive WR450F 2-Trac has dominated the first four days of the Dakar Rally with Yamaha Motor France’s David Frétigné winning the first three stages.

The Frenchman was on track to win the fourth stage of the race, too, when one of his fuel breather pipes got snagged in the fairing forcing him to stop to repair the problem. He eventually finished the stage in 39th, putting him in 23rd place overall.

For the fifth stage the Rally heads into the sand dunes where the 2WD bike has already proved its superiority by winning the Moroccan Shamrock Rally in November.

Taking advantage of Frétigné’s mishap, the fourth stage was won by Dakar regular Fabrizio Meoni who took the win on his KTM 950 Rally, 43 seconds ahead of Gauloise KTM team-mate Alfie Cox.

Last year’s winner and Gauloise team member Richard Sainct crashed just 6km after the start of stage four slightly damaging his KTM 660 Rally. He managed to remount and finished the race in 29th, seven minutes behind Meoni.

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