Xtrum wins for Audi, Al-Attiyah fights

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Two-time DTM champion Ekström and teammate Stefan Peterhansel finished first for most of the 395km run in the eighth stage between Dawadmi and Wadi Al Dawasir, with only Sebastien Loeb being able to prevent the competition from turning into an all-Audi relationship.

It looks like Peterhansel will be able to claim a 49th career stage win in the car class after Ekstrom slipped about three minutes off the lead on Waypoint 8 of 10, behind Carlos Sainz’s third Audi.

However, the Swede was quick in the final 73km race to the finish line and quickly turned the tables to score a Dakar stage victory on only his second participation.

The 43-year-old ended up 49secs ahead of Peterhansel as Audi pulled off a 1-2 lead in the Dakar, with Sainz finishing fourth in the other remaining RS Q e-tron.

Prodrive/Bahrain driver Loeb remarkably recovered from an early puncture and kept the lead from the 4-5 waypoints, but couldn’t keep up with Audis pace ahead, eventually finishing 3m08 out of speed in third.

However, the Frenchman managed to make a big way into Al-Attiyah’s lead after the Qatari driver struggled for 11th due to technical issues and a puncture of his own.

With the rear differential warming up at his factory Toyota in the desert, the three-time Dakar champion had to run the car on two-wheel drive, giving up more than 10 minutes to deliver winner Ekstrom.

This means his overall rating advantage has been reduced to 37m58s with four stages still in operation on the rally.

#211 Bahrain Raid Xtreme Prodrive: Sebastien Loeb, Fabien Lorquin

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

With technical team gremlins relegating Al-Attiyah to 11th, Henk Latigan of South Africa became Toyota’s top scorer in fifth, just 3 minutes 20 seconds off the lead in his Hilux T1+.

In the general standings, Saudi driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi continues to hold third place on Toyota OverDrive behind Al-Attiyah and Loeb despite dropping to 10th in the eighth stage.

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Jakob Przegosenko (X-Raid Mini) and Orlando Terranova provisionally moved up to fourth and fifth in the general classification after a difficult stage for his Al Rajhi teammate Lucio Alvarez.

Giniel de Villiers is seventh in second at the Toyotas factory, while Foz Ekström climbed to 11th in the standings, heading to stage nine on Tuesday near Wadi Al Dawasir.

Overall standings after stage 8: Center. #. Name Mark Time Gap Penalty 1 201 Nasser Al-Attiyah TOYOTA 27:45:52 00:00:00 2211 Sebastien Loeb PRODRIVE 28:23:50 +00: 37: 58 00:00:00 3205 Yazeed Al Rajhi TOYOTA 28 : 39: 05 +00: 53: 13 00:00:35 4203 Jakub Przygosnki MINI 29:13:58 +01: 28: 06 00:00:00 5221 Orlando Terranova PRODRIVE 29:17:31 +01: 31 : 39 00:12: 00 6208 Vladimir Vasiliev BMW 29:26:49 +01:40:57 00:05:00 7209 Giniel de Villiers Toyota 29:54:57 +02:09:05 00:22:00 8 212 Sebastian Halpern Mini 30 :17:23 +02:31:31 00:15:00 9224 Martin Prokop Ford 30:26:21 +02:40:29 00:15:00 10233 Matteo Serradori Century 30:57 :33 +03: 11:41 00:30:00

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