Coma leads Dakar Rally

Reigning Dakar Rally title holder Marc Coma has taken an early lead in the 2012 Dakar Rally.

The Spaniard completed stage two of the 8391km epic one minute and 18 seconds (1:18) ahead of fellow factory KTM rider Cyril Despres, with Aprilia’s Joan Barreda (2:33) in third.

Australia’s Rod Faggotter (Husaberg) was 30th, 25:41 behind Coma.

The stage saw the 161 riders start with a long and fast liaison over hard terrain as riders turned their machines towards the Sierra Nevadas. It then plunged them into the notoriously tricky dunes at El Nihuil to complete the gruelling 295km of timed action.

Coma said: “It was a lot more technical and with some navigation to do as well. I took the lead and kept riding at a good pace. I'm happy because I didn't get lost. So, it's been a good day for me!”

Coma leads the overall classification, 2:30 ahead of Chilean Francesco Lopez (Aprilia) and the Frenchman Despres (2:52), who was a recent visitor down under to compete in the 2011 Australasian Safari.

Faggotter is 37th, ahead of fellow Australians Dean Nuttall (Husaberg, 51st) and David Schwarz (KTM, 74th).

Meanwhile, day one of the Dakar was marred by the death of 38-year-old Argentinean Jorge Martinez Boero, who was only 2km from the finish of the 57km special from Mar del Plata to Santa Rosa when he came off his Beta with tragic results.

Boero, who was taking part in the annual event for the second time, suffered a cardiac arrest after his crash and died on the way to hospital.

Boero's death was the 21st involving a competitor during the event, which was started in 1979 as the Paris-Dakar rally.

This year’s Dakar will be held over 14 stages, extending from the Argentinean coast across the Andes through Chile all the way to Peru’s capital Lima.