Race leaders had answers for every challenge that came their way on Stage Eight of the 2024 Dakar Rally. With race days now starting to run out there’s a rush to get closer to the front across all categories but the current crop of leaders are in no mood to give up their advantage. In the Ultimate class Carlos Sainz put an extra five minutes onto his lead while in the Challenger class Mitch Guthrie Jr. also stretched his advantage over his rivals.
Story of Stage Eight: Turning the screws
It was a memorable day for Team Audi Sport as they landed three cars inside the Top 4 places on Stage Eight. Following home team-mates Mattias Ekström and Stéphane Peterhansel was the Audi RS Q e-tron of Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard was able to increase his overall lead at the front of the Ultimate class by more than five minutes on the 458-kilometre timed special stage between Al Duwadimi and Ha’il.
« I think there’s still a long way for me and there are long stages to come. You can see how easy it is to lose five or ten minutes on this race. Due to navigation, punctures, everything… it’s very stressful. But it was all good today. » – Carlos Sainz
Sainz knows that he has a target on his back put their by Sébastien Loeb. The Prodrive Hunter man was once again out to reel in his Spanish rival, but it was the Frenchman who ended up conceding 5m47s while staying second overall.
« I was really pushing hard all through the stage, but we made a mistake with the navigation and lost around ten minutes, so again we lost quite a lot of time to Carlos. » – Sébastien Loeb
Maintaining third spot in the general classification of the Ultimate class was Lucas Moraes of Toyota Gazoo Racing. The Brazilian scored a podium result on his Dakar debut last time out and is putting himself in a strong position to repeat the achievement this year.
« It’s a great feeling to be riding with these legends here and we’ve got to keep fighting. » – Lucas Moraes
Ultimate class rookie Guillaume de Mévius is half an hour behind Moraes in fourth overall while 2009 Dakar champion Giniel de Villiers is a further 10 minutes back in fifth.
« We’re getting close to the end of the race now so we can start to count the days. Today was a good day. We had no problems with the car, no punctures and no navigation issues. » – Guillaume de Mévius
21-year-old Seth Quintero was held up in traffic while pursuing a first-ever Ultimate class stage win on the way to Ha’il while Laia Sanz continued to strengthen her position in the overall Top 20.
« Today we started off strong and pretty soon we were catching cars. We got stuck behind a car we had taken six minutes out of so that was frustrating because we were going for the stage win today. » – Seth Quintero
It was another long day at the Dakar for defending champion Nasser Al-Atiyah as he exited the stage with 400k remaining due to engine trouble.
« Today was a better day for us. Our speed in the dunes was good. It was another tough day but we’re happy with how things went. » – Chaleco López
López’s fellow Can-Am drivers Rokas Baciuška and Austin Jones are now placed fourth and fifth respectively after Baciuška leapfrogged Jones in the overall standings on Stage Eight.
« We didn’t get any punctures and overall it was quite a nice day for us. Tomorrow is another day and this Dakar seems like it has already lasted one month. » – Rokas Baciuška
One family dominated the Bike race on Stage Eight with Kevin Benavides setting the fastest time and younger brother Luciano finishing second. Six and a half years may separate the brothers in age, but there was only 31 seconds between them on 458-kilometre stage that linked Al Duwadimi and Ha’il.
« I feel good and I enjoyed my ride today. The last part was fun. I did some good work and now we need to continue pushing. » – Kevin Benavides
Kevin Benavides stays in fifth overall and the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider still has a gap of 20m31s to close on leader Ricky Brabec. Kevin’s KTM team-mate Toby Price is a further nine minutes off the front of the two-wheel contest.
« There was nothing too crazy today and we kept it on two wheels all the way. » – Toby Price
Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing’s Daniel Sanders and Luciano Benavides on his Husqvarna are both less than 40 minutes behind Brabec and aiming to get as close as possible on the four stages that will now deliver the convoy to Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast.
« The second week has been much better for me. Only one small crash at the end today but no big problems. » – Luciano Benavides
Tomorrow’s 417-kilometre timed special stage between Ha’il and AlUla will offer spectacular views all the way. The Dakar Rally convoy will have to strike the right balance between enjoying the scenery and making sure they are staying on the right track during Stage Nine.
OVERALL TOP 5 STANDINGS AFTER STAGE EIGHT
ULTIMATE
1. C. Sainz (ESP) – Audi, 33:29:10
2. S. Loeb (FRA) – Prodrive, +24:47
3. L. Moraes (BRA) – Toyota, +01:05:13
4. G. De Mevius (BEL) – Toyota, +01:34:18
5. G. De Villiers (RSA) – Toyota, +01:45:12…
BIKES
1. R. Brabec (USA) – Honda, 36:16:31
2. R. Branch (BWA) – Hero, +00:42
3. J. I. Cornejo (CHI) – Honda, +04:21
4. A. Van Beveren (FRA) – Honda, +11:58
5. K. Benavides (ARG) – KTM, +20:31…
CHALLENGER
1. M. Guthrie (USA) – Taurus, 37:08:19
2. C. Gutierrez (ESP) – Taurus, +34:03
3. F. Lopez (CHI) – Can-Am, +42:51
4. R. Baciuska (LTU) – Can-Am, +01:28:39
5. A. Jones (USA) – Can-A, +01:31:30…
QUOTES
Mattias Ekström: « We had a good stage. I enjoyed it from the beginning to the end. We had no big hiccups, so it was a good day. Yesterday, on the left rear suspension, there were three nuts that were loose and when they fell off, it broke the rear left suspension. For sure, it’s devastating for my co-driver Emil and myself and for the entire team, when you have the chance to go for a Dakar podium. »
Stéphane Peterhansel: « Today, it was not a bad day for us. I think that we finished second on this stage. But at the end of the first part of the stage Mattias Ekström overtook us and he woke me up a little bit because I was at a good speed but not enough to win the stage. »
Sébastien Loeb: « It was a difficult day today. I was really pushing hard all through the stage, but we made a mistake with the navigation and lost around ten minutes, so again we lost quite a lot of time to Carlos. »
Carlos Sainz: « I think there’s still a long way for me and there are long stages to come. You can see how easy it is to lose five or ten minutes on this race. Due to navigation, punctures, everything… it’s very stressful. But it was all good today. »
Lucas Moraes: « Today was basically two stages in one. The first part very sandy and between dunes. We were the second car on the road so that was quite tricky to manage. It was really hard to see the cuts in the dunes so I took it a little bit easy. It’s a great feeling to be riding with these legends here and we’ve got to keep fighting. »
Seth Quintero: « Today we started off strong and pretty soon we were catching cars. We got stuck behind a car we had taken six minutes out of so that was frustrating because we were going for the stage win today. »
Guillaume de Mévius: « We’re getting close to the end of the race now so we can start to count the days. Today was a good day. We had no problems with the car, no punctures and no navigation issues. It was a clear day for us. »
Laia Sanz: « Today was a tough one for us. The stage suited our car quite well but we ended up with a problem with the power and we struggled a lot climbing the dunes. We will work on the problem tonight and hopefully tomorrow we can push a little bit more. »
Mitch Guthrie Jr.: « Now that we’re leading the overall the goal is to get to the finish line clean everyday. It’s tough because you’re not quite sure how fast to go but the idea is to keep extending our lead if we can. »
Cristina Gutiérrez: « The most important thing is to be consistent and not make mistakes on the four stages that are still to come. We will try to go as fast as we can. »
Rokas Baciuška: « Today was rough on the cut dunes before a long transfer and then we had 110k on the stones. We didn’t get any punctures and overall it was quite a nice day for us. Tomorrow is another day and this Dakar seems like it has already lasted one month. »
Chaleco López: « Today was a better day for us. Our speed in the dunes was good. It was another tough day but we’re happy with how things went.”
Kevin Benavides: « Today was two completely different specials. The first part was sandy with dunes, then we had the transfer in the middle and then we switched terrain and entered here in this kind of rocky terrain and mountains. I feel good and I enjoyed my ride today. The last part was fun. I did some good work and now we need to continue pushing. »
Luciano Benavides: « In the beginning there was a lot of tricky navigation and also dunes and camel grass. The second week has been much better for me. Only one small crash at the end today but no big problems. »
Toby Price: « There was nothing too crazy today and we kept it on two wheels all the way. The first part was quite sandy and it was fun to ride in. Then the last little section was full of stones and rocks so we took our time with that. »
Daniel Sanders: « It was a very bad stage done by me. It was a bad start because I thought the line out in front was wrong about 10k in. It turned out I was in the wrong there and I lost the track. That was three minutes lost straight away so that was pretty frustrating. »
Christine Fial,