Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota), leader in the Dakar’2022 cars, admitted that he had “a big scare” in the eighth stage.
In cars, Sweden’s Mathias Ekström (Audi) won a stage in the Dakar for the first time, having already won in the Race of Champions, the DTM, the Ralicrosse and the ETCR, leaving Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel (Audi) just 49 seconds away. , in the second position, with the also French Sébastien Loeb (BRX) in third, at 03.08 minutes.
With this result, Loeb gained about seven minutes from the leader, the Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah (Toyota), who this Monday got “a big scare”, when he saw the rear differential overheat, covering most of the run with just traction forward.
“We can never underestimate this rally. I was very scared”, admitted, at the end of the stage in which he was 11th, the Toyota driver, who now leads with a 37.58 minutes advantage over Loeb and 53.13 minutes over the Saudi Yazeed al Rajhi. (Toyota).
Miguel Barbosa (Toyota) was 36th in this Monday’s run, finishing 1:09.06 hours behind the winner, climbing 12 positions to 35th overall.
“The stage was very long. It was an extremely hard day. The first 200 kilometers were level two and three dunes, much more difficult. The sand was also much warmer and softer. We had a smooth stage. Our concern was that of not registering problems because we knew that it would complicate our lives, because we also had a long connection at the end. We passed many crashed cars, with mechanical problems. said.
In light vehicles, Mário Franco (Yamaha) was 11th, 53.32 minutes from the winner, again the North American Seth Quintero (OT3), who pursues the record of 11 stages conquered in the same edition. So far, only the second has failed.
In the SSV, Luís Portela de Morais (Can-Am) was seventh, 15.40 minutes from the winner, the Polish Marek Goczal (Can-Am), and Rui Oliveira (Can-Am) was 16th.
“We finished another stage without problems or scares and we are very happy. In the end we still punctured, which made us lose some time, but otherwise everything went very well. make it easier. Let’s keep the focus on our objective, which is to reach the end of this Dakar”, said Luís Portela de Morais, who is eighth in the general standings, while Rui Oliveira is 17th.
On Tuesday, the ninth stage will be played, around Wadi Ad-Dawasir, with 287 timed.
– .
