PEUGEOT and Honda have taken the lead on Day 2 of the 2018 Dakar Rally, the first major test of the event.

Cyril Despres leads the car class by 27 seconds from Peugeot teammate Stephane Peterhansel as overnight leader, Nasser Al-Attiyah, struggled through a navigation-heavy stage where it was easy for competitors to make mistakes — just ask Bryce Menzies.

In the bike class, Joan Barreda botched up a 20th career stage win as he pursues his first win on the event, and the first for a Honda rider in almost two decades.

The 267km second stage looped through the sand dunes around the Peruvian city of Pisco.

WATCH: Rookie spectacularly crashes out of Dakar Rally

MOTORCYCLE CATEGORY

In a reversal of the usual format the cars hit the stage ahead of the bikes, leaving the riders to deal with sand churned up and rutted by the four-wheel brigade. 10 riders wouldn’t make it to the end of the test, factory Sherco rider Adrien Metge the highest-profile casualty after a crash left him with a broken leg.

The fourth rider to head out onto the stage, Barreda went hard early. He’d pulled a minute on his nearest challenger by the first waypoint and over three on overnight leader KTM’s Sam Sunderland.

By the end, he’d put almost three minutes into second-placed Adrien van Beveren’s Yamaha. It wasn’t a perfect stage from the Spaniard, fearing he’d tweaked a niggling wrist injury he pushed to overcome prior to the event, but enough to give him the overall lead.

“A hard, tough stage with quite a confusing part at the beginning where we had to keep our concentration,” he said.

“I jumped a dune hard and I really felt that in my hand over the next few kilometres. The final part was very fast and I was able to pick up quite a bit of space and in the end it turned out well.”

Toby Price continued his steady return from the injuries he received on last year’s Dakar.

The 2016 champ moved into the top 10 at the end of the second day, six minutes off Barreda’s pace to be nine minutes down in the overall classification.

“It was the first stage with proper navigation today and I did OK,” he said.

“The cars ahead of us were everywhere — I think their numbers must have been halved after today, there were so many of them sidelined,” he said.

“I managed to catch Laia (Sanz, KTM teammate) quite early on, around the 40 or 50km mark, and we rode together for a while.

“Overall, I am feeling good and inside the top-10 is not a bad place to be. I just need to concentrate on my riding, navigation and hopefully I can pick up the pace a little as the race progresses.”

Fellow Australian Rodney Faggotter continues his strong start, sitting 21st overall on the fourth factory Yamaha.

“We had a good day as a team and for me individually,” he said after finishing 22nd on the stage.

“Going into the rally’s first long and difficult stage my plan was to remain focused on my navigation. There were some really tricky waypoints but I did my best to stick to the road book and to the guidelines we got from Jordi (Arcarons, Yamaha team sporting director) during our pre-stage briefing. It all went well and I completed the stage without making any mistake.

“So far we had zero problems and I continue making some good progress in the overall rankings. I’m looking forward to stage three tomorrow.”

The third Australian, Scott Britnell, slipped to 81st in the overall rankings as he makes a solid start to his maiden Dakar in the difficult Malle Moto class which sees him compete without any form of support crew.

TOP 5 — Stage 2 from Pisco to Pisco

1. (5) Joan Barreda (Honda) 2h56m44s

2. (4) Adrien Van Beveren (Yamaha) +2m54s

3. (2) Matthias Walkner (KTM) +4m24s

4. (14) Michael Metge (Honda) +4m39s

5. (47) Kevin Benavides (Honda) +5m43s

10. (8) Toby Price (KTM) +6m40s

22. (44) Rodney Faggotter (Yamaha) +20m45s

100. (97) Scott Britnell (KTM) +1h46m54s

OVERALL STANDINGS after Stage 2

1. (5) Joan Barreda (Honda) 3h18m36s

2. (4) Adrien Van Beveren (Yamaha) +2m30s

3. (2) Matthias Walkner (KTM) +4m50s

4. (1) Sam Sunderland (KTM) +5m04s

5. (10) Pablo Quintanilla (Husqvarna) +5m44s

6. (23) Xavier de Soultrait (Yamaha) +6m22s

7. (47) Kevin Benavides (Honda) +6m39s

8. (7) Franco Caimi (Yamaha) +7m10s

9. (14) Michael Metge (Honda) +7m33s

10. (8) Toby Price (KTM) +9m04s

21. (44) Rodney Faggotter (Yamaha) +24m24s

81. (97) Scott Britnell (KTM) +1h53m57s

Italics denote Australian riders

CAR CATEGORY

Peugeot showed their hand on a day where Toyota’s bid for Dakar glory suffered its first blow.

Overnight leader Nasser-Al Attiyah lost over 12 minutes to new point man Despres. The two-time Dakar winner struggled to find his way without the aid of the bikes’ trails to help as a guide, his cause further hindered with co-driver Matheiu Baumel feeling sick with a suspected case of food poisoning after just 15km of the stage.

“We are quite happy to finish, we’ll see, tomorrow we’ll have a better road. If we start in a good position, it will be no-problem, I think,” he said.

Bryce Menzies’ much awaited Dakar debut came to an end just six kilometres into the stage, the American end-for-end rolling his Mini after misjudging a berm. In fourth place at the start of the stage, Menzies escaped the crash unhurt while co-driver Peter Mortensen sustained a broken ankle.

That left the door open for Peugeot to sweep the top three spots on one of the sandy tracks that were expected to suit the 3008DKR Maxi, the 2018 event expected to be the manufacturer’s last Dakar.

“It was a difficult stage as the dunes were quite high, both going up and going down,” stage winner Despres said.

“There was also some very soft sand: we passed three or four cars that were stuck and we saw a couple of accidents. But these are the sort of hazards that you just expect on the Dakar.

“It’s the first time that our Maxi has come to these wide open, spaces in competition — which you don’t really find in testing — and the car is working very well. David (Castera, Despres’ navigator) too did a great job with the navigation and wasn’t caught out by all the different tracks from the previous cars. Our strategy seems to be a good one so far, but tomorrow is another day.”

With Al-Attiyah’s struggles, Giniel De Villiers was the best of the Toyotas in fourth place to hold onto third in the overall standings, while Orlando Terranova (fifth on the stage, sixth overall) leads the charge for Mini after Menzies’ exit.

Former Chelsea FC manager André Villas-Boas has enjoyed a strong start to his maiden Dakar, he and former motorcycle competitor Ruben Faria finishing the day 45th to hold down the same spot in the overall standings.

TOP 5 — Stage 2 from Pisco to Pisco

1. (308) Despres/Castera (Peugeot) 2h56m51s

2. (300) Peterhansel/Cottret (Peugeot) +48s

3. (306) Loeb/Elena (Peugeot) +3m08s

4. (304) De Villiers/Von Zitzewitz (Toyota) +7m26s

5. (307) Terranova/Graue (Mini) +12m53s

OVERALL STANDINGS after Stage 2

1. (308) Despres/Castera (Peugeot) 3h21m18s

2. (300) Peterhansel/Cottret (Peugeot) +27s

3. (304) De Villiers/Von Zitzewitz (Toyota) +5m44s

4. (306) Loeb/Elena (Peugeot) +6m09s

5. (301) Al-Attiyah/Baumel (Toyota) +12m15s

6. (307) Terranova/Graue (Mini) +12m50s

7. (305) Hirvonen/Schulz (Mini) +12m50s

8. (303) Sainz/Cruz (Peugeot) +13m12s

9. (309) Ten Brinke/Perin (Toyota) +17m43s

10. (302) Roma/Haro Bravo (Mini) +20m48s