Dakar 2022: Ekstrom wins Stage 8; Loeb reduces gap with Al Attiyah

Bengaluru, January 10: Dakar 2022 has a new stage winner with Sweden's Mattias Ekstrom powering home his Audi to a Stage 8 victory in Saudi Arabia as Sebastien Loeb reduced the gap with runaway leader Nasser Al Attiyah by seven minutes.

On a day when Qatar's three-time champion Al Attiyah struggled with technical glitches for an 11th place finish, the hybrid-powered Team Audi captured three of the top four spots in the 830kms segment from Al Dawadimi to Wadi Ad Dawasir.

France's defending champion and 14-time winner Stephane Peterhansel finished 49sec behind team-mate Ekstrom while Loeb brought up the last spot on the podium for Bahrain Raid Xtreme (BRX) Team to deny an Audi 1-2-3 with Spanish rally legend Carlos Sainz finishing fourth.

Dakar 2022: It's advantage Nasser Al Attiyah as starting pistol cracks for second week

"We didn't even have one detail that wasn't perfect, so for me it was a very good day," said Ekstrom, a past World Rally Championship and Race of Champions winner.

"For (co-driver) Emil (Bergkvist) and myself, we feel like the rookies here, learning every day and trying to manage the risk and there are so many kilometers where you can have a mistake," added the 43-year-old, who joined MotoGP veteran Danilo Petrucci as a first-time Dakar stage winner.

Dakar 2022: Loeb wins stage 7, Al Attiyah still in cruise mode

With four more stages and 1,172 kms to go, nine-time WRC winner Leob's third-place finish in his BRX Prodrive Hunter which follows his second stage win 24 hours early helped him close the gap to 37min, 58sec while home hero Yazeed Al Rajhi holds on to his third place in the overall classification after his 10th place finish in Stage 8.

Qatari ace Al Attiyah, the champion in 2011, 2015 and 2019, had to endure overheating problems in his Toyota Hilux +1 with 51-yearold forced to run the car on a two-wheel drive system.

Still Al Attiyah holds the aces as the Dakar 2022 reaches its business end with the ceremonial finish scheduled to be held in the Red Sea city of Jeddah on Friday (January 14).

STAGE 8 RESULTS

1. Mattias Ekstrom (SWE) 3:43:21.

2. Stephane Peterhansel (FRA) at 49sec

3. Sebastien Loeb (FRA)

OVERALL CLASSIFICATION

1. Nasser Al Attiyah (QAT), Toyota Gazoo Racing, 27:45:52

2. Sebastien Loeb (FRA), Bahrain Raid Extreme, at 37min 58sec

3. Yazeed Al Rajhi (KSA), Overdrive Toyota, at 53min, 13sec.