Oriol Mena of Hero MotoSports ahead of Juan Pedrero Garcia of Sherco TVS

Stage 8 Results for Bikes

 Overall Stage 8 Results for Bikes 

 Stage 8 Results for Quads 

 Overall results after stage 8 for Quads 

                Stage 8 Results for Cars 

  Overall results after stage 8 for Cars 

             Stage 8 Results for Trucks 

 Overall results after stage 8 for Trucks

Having spent a night at Uyuni without assistance, the competitors started the leg 2 of the Marathon stage from Uyuni to Tupiza in the morning of January 14^th for the longest stage of the Dakar Rally. The riders had to make a total run of 498 km in the special stage followed by an 87 km liaison section. This stage offered the challenge of tough high altitude riding in the mountain sand dunes at 3500 m above sea level.

At 500 km, the longest special of the 2018 Dakar was also one of the hardest. Rain on the Bolivian Plateau and sections at altitudes exceeding 4,800 metres made the challenge even more daunting. The competitors had to contend with their own fatigue as well as the wear and tear of their vehicles after the rules of the marathon stage left them without assistance service the night before. Just like last Thursday, the rest of the field was unable to match the pace of the KTM rider on the road to Tupiza. Ricky Brabec fought hard, but he ended up conceding well over a minute. Meanwhile, Adrien Van Beveren held on to his overall lead by just 22 seconds over an aggressive Kevin Benavides.

In the car category, Stéphane Peterhansel bounced back from the previous day’s nightmare with a narrow win after a nail-biting duel with his teammate Cyril Despres, 49 seconds back. Neither Peugeot's double nor Nasser Al-Attiyah taking his Toyota to third place managed to unsettle overall leader Carlos Sainz.

Stéphane Peterhansel, a living legend of the Dakar with 13 titles in the car and motorcycle categories, claimed his second stage win in 2018, bringing his account to a nice, round 40. "Mister Dakar" is only second to the great Ari Vatanen, who won no fewer than 50 stages. And, of course, only a fool would completely rule out the possibility of a 14th title…

Ignacio Casale also maintained his iron grip on the quad category, but the Chilean surrendered stage 8 to Simon Vitse, who claimed his first Dakar win 24 hours after fellow Frenchman Axel Dutrie.

Laia Sanz posted her best Dakar performance in a long time by finishing ninth in Tupiza. Tricky weather conditions during the 500 km stage only made her ride more epic. 2015 was the last time the Spanish biker cracked the top 10 of a special. She went on to finish the rally in ninth place overall.

A crushing blow

Xavier de Soultrait seems to be jinxed at the Dakar. After showing loads of promise in his first two participations, a broken engine sent the Frenchman home three days before the end of the 2016 rally, with another mechanical knocking him out of the race last year. This time around, the Yamaha rider made a costly mistake at km 171. De Soultrait, sixth overall this morning, was forced to withdraw with a double elbow fracture and a sprained knee.