Owing to the cancellation of Stage 8 for bikes/quads after the sad demise of Paulo Gonçalves, the cars category opened the race on Tuesday. With no previous tyre markings for reference, the lead drivers faced a difficult time, giving us a new amateur winner Mathieu Serradori who finished the 474-kilometre loop around Wadi Al-Dawasir in 3h48m23s.
The SRT Racing privateer first Dakar stage win was around four minutes quicker than Formula 1 driver Fernando Alonso who finished second. This is the Spaniards best finish in his Dakar debut. An unexpected Stage win means Serradori is now seventh in overall standing pushing behind Toyota’s Bernhard Ten Brinke. Despite tackling a puncture in the Stage, Alonso has now upped his position in the overall standing to 13th.
Meanwhile, Stage starter and overall race leader Carlos Sainz crossed the line at 15, more than 19 minutes adrift Serradori. His lead is now reduced to 6m40s as Nasser Al-Attiyah maintained his composure over the confusing dunes and finished at P11. Meanwhile, the third Dakar legend in the top three positions, Stephane Peterhansel now trails by 13m09s after crossing the line at P9 in Stage 8.
Stage 2 winner Orlando Terranova and the Toyota Gazoo’s duo of Giniel de Villiers and Yazeed Al-Rajhi completed the top five on the day behind Serradori and Alonso. Stage 9 will now from Wadi Al-Dawasir to the city of Haradh
