Fernando Alonso: “Apart from the visibility, the rest is good fun”

Dakar 2020 | Stage 2 | Al Wajh > Neom
January 6 ^th 2020 - 17:52 [GMT + 3]

His introduction to the Dakar has not seen Fernando Alonso in celebratory mood. On the second stage, the former Formula 1 champion lost more than two hours to the discipline’s elite drivers. He now lies in 48th position in the general standings, 2 hours and 38 minutes behind the Argentinean general standings leader Orlando Terranova.

“The navigation was perfect today, but the visibility is a nightmare behind the cars – you cannot get close. We did about one hundred kilometres blind, not seeing much and eventually we hit something with the front wheel. At the end of the day, I’m happy to be here and continue the rally. That’s the main target, to finish my first Dakar, with no more issues. In terms of pace, it was obviously a bad day today, we lost a lot of time. We hope to recover in the next few days. It’s only 700 kilometres, I think, that we have covered in the first two stages out of five thousand, so there is still a long way to go and I’m ready to enjoy them. It is what I expected and like what I saw in Morocco as well, or a little bit better. I think the pace, when we have normal visibility, is a little bit higher than what we expect, but I'm happy with that. Even with tricky navigation like today Mark was spot on and perfect. So, I think we had a good stage in terms of feeling, though bad in terms of the result, but that’s just the way its. Apart from the visibility, the rest is good fun. There is a lot of friendship. It was an experience. My Dakar has to be full of experiences and my day was one of those. There are still ten days to go and now in the next ten days we can push a little more”.