Dakar Rally 2016: Al-Attiyah wins stage 8

Reigning champion Nasser Al-Attiyah is the winner of Dakar rally stage 8 from Salta to Belem with a special stage of 394 km.

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First stage win for Qatari driver, Loeb stuck in sand and rolled

The Qatari driver in Mini was in the lead most of the day and after battling Carlos Sainz in the latter stages, he managed to set the best result – 6 hours, 32 minutes and 23 seconds. This is the first stage win for Al-Attiyah in this Dakar rally edition and he broke the streak of six consecutive victories of Peugeot drivers.

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Carlos Sainz durng stage 8 of Dakar rally

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Sainz finished only 12 seconds behind the winner, while Stephane Peterhansel, another member of Peugeot team, was third with a gap of 31 seconds. Sebastien Loeb, overall leader before this stage, started off well today, but then lost a lot of time facing difficulties driving through the sand. Just 10 km before the finish he rolled. Loeb and his co-driver Daniel Elena managed to repair the car but lost an hour, so they ended the stage as 32nd and dropped to 8th in the overall standings.

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Sebastien Loeb during Dakar rally stage 8

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Peterhansel on the top

Stephane Peterhansel is now the new leader of Dakar rally. The Frenchman is 2:09 minutes clear of Sainz, while Al-Attiyah moved up to third, almost 15 minutes behind Peterhansel.

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Stephane Peterhansel during Dakar rally stage 8

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Stage 9 around Belem

Stage 9 will be driven on Tuesday, around Belem, with a special stage of 285 km. This stage s one of the shortest on the route, but definitely not an easy one as the drivers again face tricky navigational challenges.

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Giniel de Villiers – Dakar rally stage 8

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Check the full results at SnapLap results page!

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Video: Stage 8 summary

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Photo: dakar.com redbull.com