Albury's Andrew Houlihan safely through first two stages of Dakar Rally

The Border rider sits 68th out of 96 competitors in the 12-stage event.

Houlihan was handed a five-minute penalty for missing a waypoint in stage two and is more than two hours behind the leader, Spaniard Joan Barreda Bort.

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Just five kilometres into stage two, Houlihan faced several dunes, but only lost around 30 seconds on each when he got stuck.

He encountered bigger dunes later in the day, but was able to overcome them with minimum fuss.

Houlihan said he was only passed by about 10 cars and four trucks all day, but they left their mark with a rock giving him a bruise on his right arm.

"I realised about a kilometre on (from missing the waypoint) and wanted to back track. It was a narrow track and officials said it was too dangerous as trucks were starting to come through," Houlihan said in his daily diary.

"Do you want the time or death?" they said.

"Thinking back to the crash in Hellas 2018, I decided taking on a truck was not worth the risk, so I'll get a penalty for that. But I'm here to finish, not break records or bones."

Houlihan commenced the stage just after 6am and didn't finish until around 4.30pm, but reported he felt 'remarkably fresh given the long day in the sand' with temperatures rather kind at a maximum of 25 degrees.

It's the first time Houlihan has competed in the off-road endurance event, regarded by many as the world's toughest given the extreme differences in terrain to conventional rallying.