Prodrive Hunter driver Sebastien Loeb has won Stage 8 of Dakar 2023 thanks to a Carlos Sainz penalty but Toyota’s Nasser Al-Attiyah extended his overall lead in the Cars race.
Bahrain Raid Xtreme’s Loeb prevailed by 2:11s over the Qatari, with Audi’s Sainz officially rounding out the top three and Henk Lategan fourth in another factory Toyota Gazoo Hilux on the 345km Al Duwadimi loop.
Al-Attiyah’s margin to Lategan for the event as a whole is now 1:03:46s with Overdrive Racing’s Lucas Moraes third, but Loeb has managed to trim an all-Hilux top four back to a top three.
After two nightmare days, Sainz was fastest all the way but missed out on being classified the winner of the day due to a five-minute penalty for a speed limit breach of more than 40km/h in a 30km/h speed limit section.
It meant that Loeb overtaking Al-Attiyah around halfway through the special was decisive in terms of the day’s bragging rights.
Competitors now enjoy a rest day before action resumes on Tuesday (local time) with a journey from Riyadh to Haradh, featuring wadis, canyons, and then a chain of dunes.
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Overall classification: Cars Top 10
| Pos | Driver | Co-driver | Team | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Mathieu Baumel | Toyota Gazoo Racing | 31:02:58 |
| 2 | Henk Lategan | Brett Cummings | Toyota Gazoo Racing | +1:03:46 |
| 3 | Lucas Moraes | Timo Gottschalk | Overdrive Racing | +1:20:22 |
| 4 | Sebastien Loeb | Fabian Lurquin | Bahrain Raid Xtreme | +1:52:06 |
| 5 | Giniel De Villiers | Dennis Murphy | Toyota Gazoo Racing | +2:04:20 |
| 6 | Romain Dumas | Max Delfino | Rebellion Racing | +2:27:11 |
| 7 | Martin Prokop | Viktor Chytka | Orlen Benzina Team | +2:37:00 |
| 8 | Brian Baragwanath | Leonard Cremer | Century Racing Factory Team | +2:42:06 |
| 9 | Wei Han | Ma Li | Hanwei Motorsport Team | +3:15:03 |
| 10 | Juan Cruz Yacopini | Daniel Oliveras Carreras | Overdrive Racing | +3:40:22 |
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