Dakar Rally : News from Leg 8As the first 10 trucks passed CP1 (km 201), Russian Ilgizar Mardeev was provisionally in the lead of the special stage, 3'12 ahead of the leader in the overall rankings Dutchman Hans Stacey and 10'21 ahead of Brazilian Andre De Azevedo.
6th
at the start this morning when kicking off for the day's special stage, Spaniard Marc Coma kept attacking to take the lead of the stage. A strategy that paid off as the leader in the overall rankings had a 10' lead on Despres at CP3, but a strategy that could also be costly for the last km of the special stage. Indeed, the title holder will have to drive through the last section of the stage, a very fast section, with two seriously damaged wheels.
As the first 5 cars passed at CP2 (km 357), South-African Giniel De Villiers was timed virtual leader of the day's special stage, 6'48 ahead of Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel and 9'35 in front of Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah.
Timed at CP2 25'08 behind the provisional leader of the 8th special stage teammate Giniel de Villiers, Carlos Sainz said he was having problems with his power steering. However, the Spaniard still drives on.
