2023 Dakar stage 8 took the shape of a 346 km timed special from Al Duwadimi to the capital of Riyadh. Including the liaison section the stage was 822 km long.

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Leading the Way

Yazeed Al Rajhi (Overdrive Racing) was the first car on 2023 Dakar stage 8. The Saudi driver won the previous day’s timed special, which meant he opened the road for his rivals. “We attacked. There was some navigation, but I’d say I’ve got the best co-driver!”, he chirped of his first stage win on this year’s event. “It wasn’t easy to start from the back and overtake all the little cars, often going left and right in the wadis, but we did a great job.”

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Sebastien Loeb (BRX Hunter) was ninth out of the gate this morning. The Frenchman set the set the early pace over Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing) and Al Rajhi. Carlos Sainz (Audi Sport) was keen to show his pace by taking the lead of the stage from his rivals. Race leader Nasser Al-Attiyah (TGR) also rose up the timesheets.

Stamping his Authority

Loeb was keen to show that he has proper pace, were it not for his early misfortunes he would have been a proper contender. He opened up his  lead over his pursuers. But Al-Attiyah and Sainz were keeping close contention. The Spaniard grabbed the lead as the stage progressed further.

Stage Winner

It was a real ding-dong battle between the three teams. Loeb set his time over two minutes quicker than Al-Attiyah. However, both teams had to wait until Sainz crossed the line to find out what the day’s podium would look like.

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Carlos Sainz set the quickest time on the stage. However, the Spaniard was was slapped with a five minute penalty, which relegated him to third place. Loeb was declared stage winner ahead of Nasser Al Attiyah. The Qatari still maintains his overall lead of the race. In fact the only change in the top five has been Loeb who has jumped Giniel de Villiers.

Al-Attiyah said: “No punctures today. We were careful to avoid them until the final section of dunes and sandy tracks, where we were able to attack. Finishing third is okay, I’m quite happy. All our hard work at the beginning of the race is paying off. Now we have to try and be in the top 3 every day to earn as many points as we can for the championship. Next week I’ll be home on the dunes. There’ll be plenty of dunes, but you have to be careful and take it one day at a time.”

General classification after 2023 Dakar Stage 8

    1. Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing) 31 hr 02 min 58 sec
    2. Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing) +01 hr 03 min 36 sec
    3. Lucas Moraes (Overdrive Racing) +01 hr 20 min 22 sec
    4. Sebastien Loeb (BRX) +01 hr 52 min 06 sec
    5. Giniel de Villiers (Toyota Gazoo Racing) +02 hr 04 min 20 sec
    6. Romain Dumas (Rebellion Racing) +02 hr 27 min 11 sec
    7. Martin Prokop (Orlen Benzina) +02 hr 37 min 00 sec
    8. Brian Baragwanath (CRT) +02 hr 42 min 06 sec
    9. Wei Han (Hanwei Motorsport) +03 hr 15 min 03 sec
    10. Juan Cruz Yacopini (Overdrive Racing) +03 hr 40 min 22 sec