Dakar 2024, Stage 8: Sainz rebuilds lead as Ekstrom heads Audi 1-2

Following up on his third stage win at this year’s event, Loeb looked set to carve more time out of Sainz’s overall advantage as he led the Spaniard by three minutes, and nearest rival Ekstrom by one minute, entering the final 100km of the Al Duwadimi to Ha’il stage.

But on the all-dirt track run to the stage finish, Loeb dropped over 10 minutes to his rivals to undo all his strong work and provide Sainz with more breathing space.

Ekstrom picked up the lead which he held to the finish to take his fifth stage victory overall at the Dakar Rally and second this year including his prologue triumph.

Ekstrom’s Audi team-mate Stephane Peterhansel made it a German factory 1-2, taking second place off Guerlain Chicherit over the final 10km and by just 25 seconds at the finish, after a total of 458km of competitive running on Monday.

Sainz completed a relatively low-key run to fourth place in his Audi, but with Loeb only 10th the four-time Dakar Rally winner leads the French driver by 24m47s with four stages to go until Friday’s finish.

dakar 2024, stage 8: sainz rebuilds lead as ekstrom heads audi 1-2

#207 Team Audi Sport Audi RS Q e-tron E2: Mattias Ekstrom, Emil Bergkvist

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

#207 Team Audi Sport Audi RS Q e-tron E2: Mattias Ekstrom, Emil Bergkvist

Toyota’s Lucas Moraes held on to third overall despite finishing the stage down in seventh and losing a minute to Guillaume de Mevius, with the Overdrive Toyota runner still half an hour behind the podium trio in the general classification.

Fellow Toyota driver Giniel De Villiers remains in fifth place overall ahead of Overdrive’s Chicherit, with Martin Prokop in the Orlen Jipocar Ford Raptor seventh but over two hours off leader Sainz.

Defending Dakar Rally champion Nasser Al-Attiyah’s event was given another blow after he suffered an engine breakdown 62km into the stage.

The Prodrive Hunter was left waiting for team assistance and could resume tomorrow in order to pick up world championship points, but he will be unable to add to his five Dakar Rally career wins.

Al-Attiyah was already effectively out of victory contention when he dropped 2h45m during the 48-hour Stage 6 due to car damage sustained in a hard landing in the Empty Quarter.

Provisional classification after Stage 8 (Top 10 only):

Position

Driver

Car

Time / gap

1

Carlos Sainz

Audi

33h29m10s

2

Sebastien Loeb

Prodrive

3

Lucas Moraes

Toyota

+1h05m13s

4

Guillaume de Mevius

Toyota

+1h34m18s

5

Giniel de Villiers

Toyota

+1h45m12s

6

Guerlain Chicherit

Toyota

+1h56m37s

7

Martin Prokop

Ford

+2h01m23s

8

Century

+2h03m15s

9

Guy Botterill

Toyota

+2h24m04s

10

Benediktas Vanagas

Toyota

+2h34m24s

+24m47s
Mathieu Serradori

 

News Related

OTHER NEWS

From arts to sciences: Once a teacher, always a teacher

Despite doing education at the university, Mellon Kenyangi, also known as Mama Bear, did not think of going to class, and teaching students was her dream job.“Since it was not ... Read more »

WC squad was picked on players’ performance, says Pramodya

213 Sri Lanka Cricket’s Chairman of Selectors, Pramodya Wickramasinghe reported to the Sports Ministry’s Special Investigation Unit( SMSIU) for the Prevention of Sports Offences yesterday for the second day. He ... Read more »

Malindu Dairy bags Industrial Excellence Silver Award

137 Malindu Dairy (Pvt) Ltd., a leading food production company in Sri Lanka, won the Silver Award in the medium-scale dairy and associated products category at the Industrial Excellence Awards ... Read more »

Africans Urged to Invest Among themselves, Explore Investment Opportunities in Continent

Africans Urged to Invest Among themselves, Explore Investment Opportunities in Continent Addis Ababa, November 27/2023(ENA)-The Embassy of Angola in Ethiopia has organized lecture on the “Foreign Investment Opportunities in Angola ... Read more »

Mohan Wimalaratne will lead Police this season

144 The dynamic front row player Mohan Wimalaratne will lead the Police Sports Club Rugby team at the upcoming Nippon Paint Sri Lanka Rugby Major League XV-a-side Rugby Tournament scheduled ... Read more »

Church assists the disabled in Bulawayo

Dozens of people living with disabilities from New Hope Inclusive in Entumbane, Bulawayo on Saturday last week received an early Christmas gift in the form of groceries. The groceries were ... Read more »

Somalia Joins East African Community

The East African Community (EAC) Summit of Heads of State has admitted the Federal Republic of Somalia to the regional bloc, making it its 8th member country. The decision was ... Read more »
Top List in the World