Terranova prevents clean-sweep
In the cars section, Peterhansel was followed home on the stage by Audi team-mate Spain's rally legend Carlos Sainz who finished as the day's runner-up.
Meanwhile, Bahrain Raid Xtreme (BRX) Team driver Orlando Terranova finished third to prevent an Audi clean-sweep of the 374kms of timed racing covered between Wadi Ad Dawasir and Bisha as the Dakar moves towads its business end.
Penalty for Al Attiyah
Race leader Al Attiyah was hit by a 5min penalty for not putting his seatbelt back on quickly enough after getting out to fix a puncture on Stage 8. The Toyota Gazoo Racing man still has an advantage of over half an hour at the front of the race, but will be out to limit any further time losses on the next two days.
"We only lost one minute from Seb today and tomorrow we have a good position on the road. Today we had no punctures or any issues with the car. Mathieu's navigation was good," said three-time champion Dakar Rally champion Al Attiyah.
Loeb edges close
Chasing the ace Qatari down over every stage is nine-time World Rally Championship (WRC) winner Sebastien Loeb. The Frenchman's BRX Hunter has been in attack mode for over a week now, but still the gap to his Qatari rival stands at 32m40s. Unfortunately for Loeb, he now seems to be running out of road.
"We can't try any more than we are already doing to catch Nasser. The gap is big, but we'll do everything we can in these last two days to get as close as we can," said Loeb.
Peterhansel surges
On a day when Peterhansel surged, in the bikes category, Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren is back in overall command after several front-runners hit trouble through the rocky outcrops of Wadi Ad Dawasir.
In the trucks category, a dominant drive from Russia's race leader Dmitry Sotnikov extended his advantage as the Team Kamaz Master driver looks set to make it back-to-back victories at the Dakar.