Paul Spierings is no stranger to Rallye Breslau, but 2025 is a bit of a change from his last time there in 2020 when he raced on two wheels. Now in a Taurus T3 Max, he was the fastest competitor in Stage 2 on Tuesday.

In a way, the second stage was a perfect environment fo the Dutchman. The leg’s tagline was the “Desert Roller Coaster” due to the deep sand and wide dunes not unlike what’s seen at the Dakar Rally, though some forest trails were also present. It just so happens that Spierings is one of the top Challenger drivers at Dakar, finishing tenth in his debut in 2024 then winning two stages at the latest edition and running as high as third before a broken driveshaft ended his chances.

This time, the driveshaft held up as he set the fastest time of all cars. A convoy of Lithuanians tailed him in SSV led by second-placed Arūnas Lekavičius, who was five minutes back at 1:21:06. Arūnas Simanavičius, Emilija Gelažninkienė, and Tada Gilys rounded out the top five for the class. Lithuania also repped seven of the top ten SSVs with Dalius Olechnavičius, Marius Damavičius, and Tomas Mickus in eighth through tenth.

Lithuanian riders occupied three of the top four in Enduro and half of the top ten as Dovydas Karkas led Stage 1 winner Edvard Sokolovskij, beating him by two minutes with another 40 seconds tacked on for speeding. Prologue victor Jeremy Knuiman rebounded from his Monday crash to finish third despite penalties for speeding and missing a waypoint.

William Van Groningen won the stage for CC Truck Big despite being a victim of the stage’s few non-desert sections. Low-hanging branches smashed the front windshield of his PowerStar, which then had to be replaced by the team back in the bivouac.

After a broken steering rod upended his Stage 1, fellow Truck racer Geralt Van’t Blik finished sixth in class on Tuesday with a small crack in the aluminum fuel tank that struck 13 km from the finish.

Various competitors, including Van’t Blik, experienced technical issues with their navigations tablets during the stage that were attributed to U.S. troops doing anti-drone electronic warfare exercises nearby. Both of Rallye Breslau’s host sites are on military bases, the first in Żagań and the second at Drawsko Pomorskie. Since they are active installations, military activities obviously take priority over the rally; for example, the 2023 race had to adjust its first-half schedule at the last minute—consolidating the Prologue and Stage 1 into one day and adding a rest day at midway—because the Polish Army modified their training itinerary at Drawsko.

Stage 2 winners

Cross-Country

Class	Number	Competitor	Team	Total Time
ATV	3	Adam Krysiak	Polaris Polska Racing Team	1:35:52.76
Car Limited	203	Torsten Wilk	TH Racing	2:16:51.25
Car Open	210	Herman Jasper	Dutch Off Road Rally Team	1:33:42.72
Enduro	51	Dovydas Karka	Dovydas Karka	1:28:10.12
SSV	434	Paul Spierings	Rebellion Spierings	1:16:21.81
Truck Big	601	William Van Groningen	Dust Warriors	1:34:45.25
Truck Small	605	Jürgen Hellgeth	Hellgeth Engineering	2:28:42.99

Enduro

Class	Number	Competitor	Team	Total Time
Car Limited	302	Michael Betz	Michael Betz	3:08:47.58
Car Open	301	Hardo Mere	HM Racing Team	1:34:13.44
Truck Big	659	Guido Neubert	Freunde	2:17:32.35
Truck Small	658	Felix Muellenheim	Bronco Racing	1:58:44.38

Featured image credit: Plamen Kodrov / RBI Media