French driver Sebastien Loeb (Prodrive) won the eighth stage of the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, following Spaniard Carlos Sainz was handed a five-minute penalty for going over the speed limit by 40 kilometers.
Sainz (Audi) finished the stage in first place before he was penalized and dropped to third place.
Consequently, Loeb advanced in this stage to Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing), the defending champion and leader in the general standings, by a difference of two minutes and 11 seconds, and 3 minutes and 31 seconds from Sainz in the stage that reached a distance of 822 km.
The victory was Loeb’s 18th in the Dakar Rally, but he still trailed Al-Attiyah by 1 hour and 52 minutes.
Al-Attiyah leads the overall standings by a very comfortable margin and is heading towards winning his fifth title in the Dakar, ahead of South African Henk Latigan by an hour and 3 minutes.
The drivers will rest on Monday.
In the cycling category, Botswana driver Ross Branch took first place, one minute and 33 seconds ahead of American Mason Klein, who in turn was penalized two minutes for speeding.
American Skylar Hawes retained the lead in front of Argentine Kevin Benavides and American Mason Klein.
Overall ranking of the top five in the car category:
1- Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota Gazoo Racing) 31:02:58 hours
2- South African Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing), a difference of 1:03:46 hours
3- Brazilian Lucas Moraes (overdrive), 1:20:22m
4- French Sebastien Loeb (Bahrain Red Extreme), 1:52:06m
5- South African Ginelle de Villiers (Toyota Gazoo Racing), 2:04:20 hours
The overall ranking of the top five in the motorcycle category:
1- American Skylar Hawes (Husqvarna), 30:34:16 hours
2- Argentine Kevin Benavides (KTM), 13 seconds behind
3- American Mason Kline (KTM), 13 seconds behind
4- Australian Toby Price (KTM), a difference of 1:58 minutes
5- Chilean Pablo Quintanya (Honda), a difference of 2:45 minutes
