Belen, Argentina - Defending champion Nasser al-Attiyah won the eighth stage of the Dakar Rally on Monday as disaster struck Dakar rookie Sebastien Loeb's impressive start to the gruelling event.
Al-Attiyah, in a first stage win for Mini against the might of Peugeot which had won the previous six, finished 12 seconds ahead of Carlos Sainz and 31 seconds in front of new leader Stephane Peterhansel, each in a Peugeot.
Nine-times world rally champion Loeb, after three stage wins, lost his lead in the overall standings as he ground to a standstill after taking a wrong turn and rolling less than 30km from the end of the 393km timed section of the 766km stage between Salta and Belen.
Despite massive damage to the car, Loeb and navigator Daniel Elena managed to limp home, more than one hour off the pace and dowbn to eighth in the overall standings .
“It's over for the victory,” said Loeb. “In a stream there was a huge step that I didn't see and which threw us into a barrel-roll.
“We lost a lot of time because we had to change the wheels.
“Our victory hopes have gone - we knew that we didn't know it all!”
Loeb may have impressed during the first week of the Dakar, putting his WRC experience to good use, but Peterhansel warned that the Dakar is a different beast.
“He fell into the trap we could have expected. Once you're off the track you have to open your eyes twice as much,” he said.
“That was where he risked making a mistake.”
Stage 8 brought mixed results for Toyota Gazoo Racing SA as Leeroy Poulter moved up into fifth overall after posting the eighth fastest time for the day despite getting stuck in the dust of slower competitors who started the stage ahead of him.
He was promoted two places overall by Loeb's crash and a silly mistake by team leader Giniel de Villiers, who got stuck on a clump of camel grass. He was pushing hard and posting very competitive sector times despite a puncture earlier in the stage.
He was looking for a good place drive into a dry riverbed, however, when he realised the bank was too steep. He then tried to reverse out and ended up with all four wheels off the ground, stuck on the camel grass.
"It was such a simple mistake, but these things happen," said a rueful De Villiers from the bivouac at Belén. "We lost the best part of twenty minutes extricating the Hilux, which is extremely frustrating."
That dropped him down to seventh in the overall standings, 54m49s behind race leader Stéphane Peterhansel, but just 30 seconds behind team-mate Yazeed al Rajhi in sixth.
MOTORCYCLES
KTM rider Toby Price won the motorcycle section, the Australian landing a sledgehammer blow in distancing Paulo Goncalves, the overnight leader, by 5m17s.
That moved Price to the top of the overall standings with a lead of 2m05s over the Honda rider from Portugal.
AFP