Follow the Dakar Day 8 action on the Auto Live Ticker right here!
Day 8 is also the second leg of Dakar’s 2021 Marathon stage. Some of the teams and riders would have had a busy night to make repairs without the assistance of their service ,crews, so it’s likely to be tough, too. Follow the race and the progress of of the South African Dakar cars, men and women, who continue to do us so proud in the daunting Arabian Desert. Monday is a 377 km race from Sakaka to Neom. It offers both incredible views and perilous danger and we’ll have all the big news, as it happens, right here on the Auto Page Live Ticker…
Click here to read Sunday’s race report
Re-live Sunday’s live action on the ticker here
Before we continue, take a moment to read this — the Dakar mourns the passing of a legend today….
DAKAR DAY 8 LIVE TICKER HERE:
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14h10 All: And that’s the wrap! Click here for today’s full report
12h40 Cars: Nasser Al Attiyah storms to the car win over Sainz and Peterhansel as he takes 3 minutes out of Peterhansel’s lead to sit 4 minutes 50 off the Frenchman. The fat lady has not even arrived yet
12h25 Cars: Yazeed Al Rajhi has had issues – he lost 50 minutes into WP5
12h20 Cars: Nasser opens the gap a little more, claws back a little more overall too
12h10 Cars: 70 km to race today and Nasser is opening the lead up front – he’s taken a third out of of Peterhansel’s overall advantage too…
11h55 Cars: Giniel and Shameer continue to fight for sixth with Prokop’s Ford, while Brian and Taye are making good progress – they were 12th at 122km
11h50 Bikes: Wrapping up the day on two wheels, Jose Ignacio Cornejo Florimo took his first stage win of the year for Honda, adding to his two previous day wins in 2020 with a 1 minute 5 second victory over Toby Price on a KTM to move into a 1 minute 6 second overall lead over Price. Californian Ricky Brabec was third on another KTM ahead of Sam Sunderland’s KTM Kevin Benavides and Joan Barreda Bort’s Hondas and KTM dup Daniel Sanders and Mathias Walkner. Botswana’s Ross Branch came home 11th on his Yamaha. Sunderland now sits third overall five minutes back from Benavides, Barreda, Brabec, Howes and Sanders now all over ten minutes adrift, with Branch moving a couple of places up to 13th.
11h45 Cars: The top three continue to fight it out, Al Attiyah 34 seconds clear of Sainz and 48 ahead of Peterhansel who keeps a watching brief on he Qatari and his overall advantage…
11h20 Bikes: Xavier de Soultrait has crashed out and Franco Caimi has suffered an engine failure ro see both men retire as Dakar takes its toll on the two-wheeler pack
11h15 Cars: Shameer Variyawa and Dennis Murphy have meanwhile popped up in the top ten for the first time – the Gazoo Toyota Hilux duo is having a good day dicing with teammates Giniel de Villiers and Alex Haro, Al Rajhi and Prokop for sixth
11h10 Bikes: Provisionally Flormino has taken the day from Price, Brabec and Sunderland, Sanders and Howes.
10h55 Cars: Back to the front, 30 seconds splits them as Nasser now leads Carlos and Peter….
10h50 Cars: Meanwhile back at WP1 you will be delighted to learn that Brian Baragwanath and Taye Perry have just blasted through 14th fastest, in spite of what must be a significant challenge in nuking Invaders while eating backmarker dust in that Corvette-propelled Century..
10h45 Bikes: The first few machines are home…
10h40 Cars: its close up front as Peter Nasser and Sainz give it horns, the trio split by 50 seconds
10h30 Bikes: The leaders are already closing in on the finish as Price continues to lead Flormino, Barreda, K Benavides, Walkner, Sunderland, Brabec and Soultrait, with Rossi 12th at 225 km.
10h20 Cars: We’re back on track and can report Peterhansel and Nasser have been dicing up front with Sainz, with Peter leading leading Nasser by 20 and Sainz at 166 km . Al Rajhi was fourth while the order at 80 km behind them was Despres, Seaidan, Despres, Serradori and Qassimi. Variyawa as a good 11th but Giniel was having another rough start as he lost close to 5 minutes early on.
10h00 All: Bear with us – seems the Dakar timing service in hanging…
09h15 Cars: The first few cars are through WP1 with Nasser the pace man so far from Sainz, Al Rajhi and Peterhansel, overall leader by 8 minutes, 30 seconds adrift. Peter considered himself lucky to get away with wheel and suspension issues yesterday, by the way, but he also has not won a stage. They say you make your own luck – it seems Mr. Dakar is an expert at that…
09h05 Bikes: They may be fifteen minutes apart on the road, but Joan Barreda and Toby Price are swapping he lead Waypoint by waypoint. The t Aussie on the KTM was quicker than the Spaniard on the Honda trough the most recent 166 km point, with Flormino joining in. Three WPs back, Ross Branch was running 11th. Today is a quick stage – the first bikes on the road are already two thirds done.
08h05 Bikes: With first riders already through 122 km WP3 and the road cleaners clearly already struggling, the real order through 40 km WP1 sas Toby Price leading Joan Barreda, Brabec, Flormino, Soultrait and Kevin Benavides, with Ross 15th and a minute off the pace.
08h00 All: Dakar organisers promise that today, “competitors will have to be on high alert to avoid navigation errors, mechanicals and flat tyres!”
07h40 Bikes: Remember that with Ross Branch starting 27th and just under 40 minutes after first man away Brabec today and Barreda, Quintanilla, Walkner, Svitko and others setting off 14th and after, the real outlook is going to take those 40 minutes after the first bikes are through each waypoint, to understand how today’s race will progress…
07h30 Bikes: Toby Price was quickest of the first few bikes through WP1 from Brabec, Flormino and Soultrait. Now let’s see how the following pack performs from their later starting positions…
07h10 Bikes: Getting back to this year’s Dakar, the leading bikes have entered the stage. Let’s see where they end up among the chasing pack this afternoon – the bike leaders’ prospects are not all that good considering form so far…
07h00 Cars: Great news for South African fans is that Brian Baragwanath and Taye Perry somehow dragged their stricken Century Corvette through the stage and thanks to the spares being in a service truck, were able to fit a new rear suspension to the CR6. Now out of contention for a competitive overall result, we see no reason why our Dakar heroes cannot chase for car day win or three… Go guys!
06h30 Bikes: Botswana gentleman ridere, Kalahari Madala James Alexander, who has steadily ridden his Yamaha through the toughest of challenges, will once agaoin take the start today. Excellent stuff!
06h00 All: we start today with the sad news of Dakar legend Hubert Auriol’s passing yesterday. Read a little more about the triple-winner here
05h30 All: Ricky Brabec will be first bike away at 06h40. Yazeed Al Rajhi will get the cars going two hours later. Let’s do this!