Stage two of the inaugural Sealine Rally in Qatar was topped by Husqvarna mounted Spaniard Joan Barreda ahead of Rodrigues (Yamaha) and Coma (KTM). Barreda placed a little over seven minutes up on Rodrigues at the end of the three-and-a-half hour stage, with Coma a further two minutes behind I third.

Despite his stage victory Barreda picked up a two-hour penalty, which has dropped him way down the overall results.

On Thursday riders retraced their tracks from the previous day in a second loop course of 330km of special stage and a seven km liaison. Again they travelled through the southern part of the Gulf State over hard and sometimes rocky terrain, finishing in tricky dunes.

Marc Coma: ‘Today everything went well. There were no problems and we made no mistakes. We are now near the middle of the rally and there is no big gap between the leading contenders so everything is going well for us. Tomorrow with be very important. We have a 360km special and there will be a lot of navigation.’

Riders are hoping for another day where the desert temperatures are not too severe. On Thursday they were relatively mild although there was some wind and at times there were problems with visibility.

Results, Qatar Rally, Stage Two

1, Joan Barreda, Spain, Husqvarna, 3 hours 3:33.31

2, Helder Rodrigues, Portugal, Yamaha at 7.10

3, Marc Coma, Spain, KTM at 9.12

4, Paolo Goncalves, Portugal, Husqvarna at 9.14

5, Francisco Chaleco Lopez, Chile, KTM at 13.48

Standings, Qatar Rally, after Stage Two

1, Marc Coma, Spain, KTM , 7 hours 33.24

2, Helder Rodrigues, Portugal, Yamaha at 1: 08

3, Jordi Villadoms, Spain, KTM, at 14.41

4, Jackub Przgonski, Poland, KTM at 14:50

5, Ruben Faria, Portugal, KTM, at 15:58