Barreda, Loeb win stage 8 Rally Dakar 2017; Stage 9 cancelled

Heavy rains and a swollen river saw drivers and riders at the Rally Dakar 2017 complete Stage 8 with great skill. This leg was eventually divided in two parts with a 176-kilometre liaison at the border between Bolivia and Argentina. Winners included Joan Barreda of Monster Energy Honda Team (bike category), Sebastien Loeb of Peugeot (car cateogry), Ignacio Casale of Yamaha (Quad category) and Martin van den Brink of Renault Trucks (truck category).

Incidentally, the race for stage 9 has been cancelled owing to weather conditions. All the riders have been rerouted to an alternative itinerary via San Antonio de los Cobres. The organisers will regroup the rally in Chilecito to continue the race on January 12, 2017. With all major roads being blocked due to flooding and mud slides, team crews and competitors eventually reached the Salta bivouac right after midnight, which forced race organisers to cancel stage nine.

Meanwhile, in stage 8, taking the vehicles through streams and dunes, the second half of this year’s marathon stage climbed up to 4,400m of altitude and saw the French battle in the car category intensify. When leaving Uyuni on the morning of January 10, Stéphane Peterhansel of Peugeot was the overall leader. The 12-time Dakar winner opened the road, but had to stop for several minutes after the 110th km, allowing for a fast and furious Sébastien Loeb to overtake him before the first passage control.

This is Loeb’s third win since the start in Asuncion, despite suffering a flat tyre during Stage 8. With Peterhansel finishing 3'35 behind in Salta, his co-pilot Daniel Elena and him are the new overall leaders.

In the bike category, Joan Barreda is the first bike rider to take two stage wins this year, 3'51 ahead of second-placed Matthias Walkner. The KTM rider only preceded his teammate Sam Sunderland by three seconds, allowing the Brit to gain on his rivals in the overall standings.

2014 Dakar winner Ignacio Casale took the line honours for the first time this year with an impressive 5'39 lead over overall leader Sergey Karyakin (Yamaha). Axel Dutrie (Yamaha) finished third, 7'16 behind the Chilean rider.

On the truck front, Martin van den Brink scored his second stage win. The Dutchman beat Iveco's Federico Villagra by 17 seconds, followed by Eduard Nikolaev in his Kamaz truck. His fellow Russian Dmitry Sotnikov retook the overall lead.

Hero Motosports Team Rally: After spending six days in the Bolivian Altiplano, the Dakar Rally commenced its return to Argentina and Hero Motosports Team Rally riders, Joaquim Rodrigues and C.S. Santosh, continued with their impressive performance in the eighth stage, which formed the second part of the marathon special. The team hit an important milestone as Joaquim broke into the top 10 since the start of the world’s toughest rally in his debut attempt.

 As has been the norm in this edition of the Dakar, the stage from Uyuni to Salta was once again modified because it was impossible to ford an overflowing river. As a result, the original special of 392 km, was split into two parts and was shortened by 68 km.

But that didn’t prevent Rodrigues from mounting a serious charge to break into the top 10 on his first Dakar appearance. Even as more rains rendered the tracks slippery and treacherous, Rodrigues attacked the course with loads of courage and skill to string together a stupendous race. The Portuguese rider powered his bike across the finish of the special stage in 4 hours 44 minutes 57 seconds, just 16 minutes and 36 seconds behind the stage winner. Rodrigues finished the tough day in 16th place that helped him move into highly commendable 10th place in the provisional overall classifications.

Santosh, who started the special in 38th place, also came up with a good ride despite the challenging riding conditions that forced many of the frontrunners to stop in the middle of the stage to change their riding goggles and gloves. He completed the timed section in 47th position with a time of 5 hours 14 minutes 01 second. His performance in this special stage helped him climb to the 62nd place in the provisional overall general classifications, up from his overnight 67th position.

It was also an action-packed day for the assistance crews, who were travelling from La Paz to Salta. But a massive landslide about 200 km north of Salta forced both the assistance crews and the participants to undertake a detour of 150 km through the back roads as the last liaison was modified by the organisers.

Four MINI remain in the overall top 10: The difficult conditions meant that there was not much change in positions  with most of the MINI family competitors maintaining their overall position.  Mikko Hirvonen (FIN) and Michel Perin (FRA) once again secured a 4th place stage finish in the #303 MINI John Cooper Works Rally car to remain in 5th place in the overall standings.

Just two places behind them in the stage was the #308 MINI John Cooper Works Rally car of Orlando Terranova (ARG) and Andreas Schulz (GER). The pairing remained on form with another consistent performance that saw them maintain 7th position overall. Completing the top ten in stage finish was fellow MINI John Cooper Works Rally driver Yazeed Al Rajhi (KSA) and co-driver Timo Gottschalk (DEU).  Their official overall position is still subject an appeal. Jakub Przygonski (POL) and Tom Colsoul (BEL) were in the first MINI ALL4 Racing car (#316) to complete the stage in 14th. They also held on to their place in the overall standings in 8th.

The remaining MINI ALL4 Racing pairings also completed Stage 8 with Mohamed Abu Issa (QAT) and Xavier Panseri (FRA) finishing in 17th, one place ahead of Boris Garafulic (ARG) and co-driver Filipe Palmeiro (POR) in the #314 MINI ALL4 Racing car.  Sylvio de Barros (BR) and Rafael Capoani (BR) finished the stage in 20th position, two places in front of Stephan Schott (GER) and Paulo Fiuza (POR) in 22nd.

Sherco TVS: Pedrero Garcia Juan finished 5th at the end of the two specials of stage 8 which was between Uyuni and Salta. He finished 6'00 behind the winner. It was a beautiful race for the Sherco rider who moved up to 20th place overall. Adrien Metge, finished 25th in the stage at 21'42, and is now in 38th place in the general classification.

 Juan raced a great special, he proved that he is a contender and the bike is working very well. As for Adrien, he got stuck and wandered off the track. He lost time, but managed to get back on track and get the bike back.

Third and Sixth For Yamaha Riders: with poor weather conditions playing a major part in stage eight of the 2017 Dakar Rally, the duo of Yamaha Racing's Adrien Van Beveren and Xavier de Soultrait reached the end of the two-day-long marathon stage retaining their strong third and sixth positions respectively in the rally's provisional overall rankings. Joined at the finish of the stage by Hélder Rodrigues, the trio of Yamaha riders will continue pushing for even better results in the remaining stages of this year's Dakar Rally.

Making a cautious start to the special stage, Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team's Adrien Van Beveren went on to post the 11th fastest time of the day. With four stages left to be contested in this year's Dakar Rally the Frenchman is still holding on to a very strong third place in the rally's provisional overall standings.Trying to make the most of his experience in the difficult conditions of today's stage, Hélder Rodrigues struggled to find a good race pace and had to settle for 18th. The Portuguese rider is currently 16th in the rally's standings, less than 30 minutes behind the provisional top 10. The WR450F mounted Xavier de Soultrait was the highest placed Yamaha rider. Involved in some great battles with the fastest riders of the day, the Frenchman wrapped up the stage in ninth to retain his impressive sixth place in the provisional overall standings.

With 2014 Dakar Rally champion Ignacia Casale topping the standings in the Quad class, Yamaha Raport 700R mounted Russian Sergey Karyakin retains his lead in the provisional standings.