(Reuters) – Frenchman Sebastien Loeb lower Nasser Al Attiyah’s substantial Dakar Rally lead on Monday in an eighth stage in Saudi Arabia received by Audi’s Mattias Ekstroem.
Nine occasions world rally champion Loeb completed third for the Bahrain Raid Xtreme workforce within the 395km stage from Al Dawadimi to Wadi Ad Dawasir to chop his Toyota rival’s lead from 45 minutes to only underneath 38 with 4 phases remaining.
Qatari Al Attiyah, chasing his fourth Dakar title, completed eleventh.
“We tried actually exhausting from the beginning, however I had a puncture,” mentioned Loeb.
“We modified the wheel shortly and at last we continued like that till the neutralisation level after we noticed that we had misplaced our spare wheel and it was the one one we had left, so I used to be a bit cautious on the finish.”
Last 12 months’s winner Stephane Peterhansel, the Frenchman who has a file 14 Dakar victories on two wheels and 4 however is out of competition this time, was second within the stage in a first one-two for the electrical hybrid Audi.
Ekstroem’s win was additionally a first on the Dakar for the 43-year-old Swede, a former world rallycross and twice German Touring Car (DTM) champion, and a second for Audi after Carlos Sainz final week.
In the motorbike class, Britain’s Sam Sunderland received the stage and regained the general lead he had misplaced on Sunday.
The GasGas rider was three minutes and 45 seconds clear of Austrian Matthias Walkner within the common rating with earlier chief Adrien Van Beveren dropping to 3rd, 4 minutes and 43 seconds off the lead.
“I had a few crashes within the dunes this morning the place I used to be maybe using a little bit an excessive amount of however I settled down after the refuelling and obtained a good rhythm, so I’m proud of that,” mentioned Sunderland.
“It appears just like the race is absolutely shut this 12 months.”
Botswana’s manufacturing facility Yamaha rider Ross Branch withdrew from the rally after a fall final week.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, modifying by Ken Ferris)
