Dakar 2018 Stage 8 Updates: CS Santosh Continues His Steady Run, Stage 9 Cancelled

Hero MotoSports Team Rally rider CS Santosh continued his steady run and made up for the lost ground in the earlier part of the rally. The Indian rider posted 38th fastest time in stage 8 and is placed in 42nd position in the overall standings.

Santosh said, "I think this Marathon stage was the hardest I have ever done. It was incredibly difficult as we did 80 km off-piste and the camel grass. I was physically drained with the high altitude riding and also crashed a couple of times."

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He added, "By the time I reached the marathon bivouac I had nothing left in me. We had the longest stage of the Dakar which was tough again. Happy to be back here with the team, I missed these guys. Now we got a lucky break tomorrow and then we go racing all the way to Cordoba."

Sherco TVS rider Juan Pedrero Garcia had a tough stage and managed to finish in 30th position. The stage 8 result saw Garcia slip down the leaderboard and is placed in 20th position. Now, Oriol Mena becomes the leading rider in an Indian machine ahead of Garcia.

In the bikes category, KTM rider Antoine Meo topped the longest stage of the rally. Yamaha rider Adrien van Beveren now holds a narrow lead of 22 seconds ahead of Honda rider Kevin Benavides. KTM rider Matthias Walkner rounded off the top three riders after stage 8.

In the quads category, Simon Vitse became the sixth different stage winner. The French rider registered his maiden stage win in Dakar Rally. Ignacio Casale holds a comfortable rally lead ahead of Jeremias Gonzalez Ferioli and Nicolas Cavigliasso.

In the cars class, the eighth stage victory went to Peugeot driver Stephane Peterhansel who had lost time in stage 7 due to technical trouble. His teammate Carlos Sainz is the overall rally leader. Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah is in the second position in the overall standings. Stage winner Peterhansel is placed in the third position in the general rankings.

In the trucks category, Russian driver Dmitry Sotnikov was the fastest man in the eighth stage in his Kamaz truck. His teammate Eduard Nikolaev leads the rally with a healthy margin ahead of Argentina driver Federico Villagra who was the second-fastest driver in the longest stage of the rally.

The organisers of the 2018 Dakar Rally has cancelled the stage 9, Tupiza - Salta, due to excessive rain in the region in the last few days. The rivers are expected to overflow which will pose dangers to the competitors. But the crews have to cross the border to move into Argentina while covering the longest liaison section of the Dakar.

2018 Dakar Stage 8 Results

Motorcycles

Antoine Meo (FRA) KTM
Ricky Brabec (USA) Honda
Toby Price (AUS) KTM

Quads

Simon Vitse (FRA) Yamaha
Marcelo Medeiros (BRA) Yamaha
Ignacio Casale (CHL) Yamaha

Cars

Stephane Peterhansel (FRA) Peugeot
Cyril Despres (FRA) Peugeot
Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) Toyota

Trucks

Dmitry Sotnikov (RUS) Kamaz
Federico Villagra (ARG) Iveco
Airat Mardeev (RUS) Kamaz

DriveSpark Thinks!

The stage 8 of the 2018 Dakar Rally was the longest test of the event with harsh conditions of high altitude dunes. The ninth stage of the rally has been cancelled due to adverse weather, and the competitors will cross the border to Argentina which also includes the longest transport section of the rally.