Marko Hanželic
The eighth stage of this year Dakar was marked by the team’s double victory Audi Sport, but he was the fastest Matthias Ekström, who was 49 seconds faster than his teammate Peterhansel. For Ekström, who can boast two championship titles DTM series and the title of world champion in reliccross, this is the first major success in Dakar.
Both top favorites to win together, Sebastien Loeb in Nasser Al-Attiyah they had quite a few problems along the way, and each of them had to change bikes once. Still, he was French significantly faster on the road and in the end lagged behind the winner for the good three minuteswhile Al Attiyah stayed out of the top ten and was a good ten minutes behind the winner of the day.
Sebastien Loeb said after the tense stage: "We attacked the whole stage," said the former WRC champion, adding: “After 28 kilometers, we had a rubber defect. During the neutralization, we found that we had lost another spare tire, so we couldn’t afford to make mistakes for the next 250 kilometers. To make up for the seven-minute deficit against Nasser, who didn't have his day, is a remarkable result. "
With the eighth stage, he was the fastest among motorcyclists Sam sunderland (GasGas), which also rose to the top of the overall standings. They finished second and third Paul Quintanilla in Matthias walkner. The Austrian at KTM is also in second place overall. Simon Marčič he finished the stage in 61st place, a total of fifty-fifth, in his class Original by Motul however, he is in an excellent eighth place.
