The 46th Dakar Rally headed to the city of Ha’il, the cradle of all-terrain sport in Saudi Arabia for the the eighth stage.
The 279-kilometer trek saw Mattias Ekström and Stéphane Peterhansel give Audi a one-two finish in the ultimate category. Carlos Sainz continues to hold the standings lead by a slim margin over Sebastien Loeb.
The Benavides brothers of Kevin and Luciano swept the front two positions in the bike category. American Ricky Brabec, however, still holds a 42-second lead over Ross Branch.
In the challenger class, Mitch Guthrie boasts a large cushion over Cristina Gutiérrez. Saleh Al-Saif scored the win for the first time in the category ahead of Guthrie and Cristina Gutiérrez.
Xavier de Soultrait is under pressure from João Ferreira during this second week of the SSV class race, as the Portuguese driver won Monday’s stage and now only trails the leader by seven minutes, 41 seconds.
Manuel Andújar notched the quad victory over Alexandre Giroud. Andújar holds an 11-minute, 26 second in the standings.
Mitchel Van Den Brink vaulted to second in the truck category standings after a victory in stage eight. He still trails Martin Macik by nearly two hours.