Today, Sunday, January 8, 2023, the eighth “marathon” stage of the Saudi-Dakar 2023 rally started, and its competition continues for the second day in a row between Dawadmi and Riyadh, and at a distance of 345 km 3 hours. , 34 minutes and 24 seconds, while Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar, driver of the Toyota Gazoo team, was second with a difference of two minutes and 11 seconds, and Spaniard Carlos Sainz fell to third place, 3 minutes and 31 seconds behind the rider. leader; As a result of the punishment, he was subjected, as a result of a time penalty, for exceeding the speed of 40 km per hour, which gave the Frenchman Loeb the advantage on the stage.
Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar continued to lead the overall standings in the car category, one hour, 3 minutes and 46 seconds behind teammate Henk Lategan, while Brazil’s Lucas Moraes, driver of the Overdrive team, remained in third place, 1 an hour, 20 minutes and 22 seconds behind the leader.
In the motorcycle category, Team Hero biker Ruth Branch took first place in the event with a time of 3 hours 46 minutes 18 seconds, beating American Pass World KTM rider Mason Klein by one minute and 33 seconds. While Australian Daniel Sanders of the Red Bull Gas Gas team completed the position rankings in third place, 3 minutes and 15 seconds behind the leader.
Skyler Hawes of the Husqvarna team retained first place overall in the motorcycle category, followed by Kevin Benavidez of the Argentine Red Bull KTM team with a difference of one minute and 13 minutes, and the American Mason. Klein is third with the same time difference.
Argentinian Manuel Andujar of Team 7240 took first place in the ATV category with a time of 4 hours 56 minutes and 5 seconds, beating France’s Alexandre Giroud of Yamaha Racing by 2 minutes 5 seconds, followed by Brazil’s Marcelo Medeiros of the team Tagator Racing, with a lead of 11 minutes 55 seconds.
Alexandre Giroud was able to retain first place overall in this category, while Argentinean Manuel Andujar moved up to second place by one hour, 41 minutes and 37 seconds, and American Pablo Copete of Del Amo Motor. Sports by Motul continued in third place, 1 hour 42 minutes and 12 seconds behind the leader.
Portugal’s João Ferreira, driver of the X-Red Yamaha team, managed to set the best time in the light car category for the T3 desert with a time of 4 hours 11 minutes and 36 seconds, followed by Francesco López Contardo of Chile, the driver of the Red Bull Can-M team. finished second, just 17 seconds apart, and Mitchell Guthrie of the Red Bull Offroad Junior team arrived third, two minutes and two seconds behind the leader.
Although he did not finish in the top three in round 8, Belgian Guillaume de Mevius of the G Rally Team still leads the overall standings in this category, followed by American Austin Jones of the Red Bull Offroad. Junior finished second by 3 points, minutes and 19 seconds, while American teammate Seth Quintero finished third by one hour, two minutes and 25 seconds.
Argentinian Jeremy González Ferrioli, driver of the South Racing Can-Am team, took first place in the T4 desert light commercial stock car category at the 2023 Saudi Arabian Dakar Rally with a time of 4 hours 16 minutes and 18 seconds. He is followed by fellow Saudi Arabian national team Yasser bin Saedan with a difference of 3 minutes and 9 seconds, while their Spanish counterpart Gerard Varese finished third, 3 minutes and 18 seconds behind the leader.
Lithuanian Rokas Pasiushka, driver of the Red Bull Can-Am team, was able to continue leading the overall standings in this category, followed by Pole Marek Gochal, driver of the Energy Landia Rally Team, by 4 minutes 34 seconds. seconds behind him was his son Eric Gochal, third, 5 minutes 48 seconds behind the leader.
In the truck category, Czech Martin Macek, driver of the MM “Technology Team”, took first place at this stage, finishing the race in 4 hours 4 minutes and 28 seconds, and Dutchman Mitchell Van Denbrink, driver of the “Eurol Team de Rooy” took second place . With a difference of 59 seconds, Czech Alisa Lobris, the pilot of the InstaForex Lopress Braga team, took third place with a difference of 3 minutes 34 seconds.
With this result, Czech Alice Lubris retained the lead in the overall standings, ahead of her competitor Mitchell van Diebenrink by 16 minutes and 17 seconds, while the Dutchman Van Castrien came in third, 38 minutes and 3 seconds behind.
It is worth noting that tomorrow, Monday, there will be a rest for all participants, after the end of the first week of competition, provided that the ninth stage starts on Tuesday, January 10, 2023.