Photos of Stage 8 (Copiapo - Antofagasta)

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Video: The stage summary - Stage 8 (Copiapo - Antofagasta)

Despite being the first rider on the course, Marc Coma managed to avoid the muddy trap which later caught Cyril Despres. As a result, the Catalan took his 20th stage win at the Dakar and, most importantly, seized the overall lead, where he now has a 1'26" margin over Despres. In the car category, it was also a Catalan who claimed the win in Antofagasta: Nani Roma, who beat Robby Gordon by 5 seconds. As a consolation prize, the American gained over 5'30" on Stéphane Peterhansel, whose overall lead has now dwindled to 7'36".

Despres hands Coma his 20th win on a platter... Nevertheless, the 477-kilometre stage 8 between Copiapó and Antofagasta did not start well for Marc Coma, the first rider to hit the course this morning. After making a small navigation mistake in the first few kilometres, the defending champion was losing one minute... when everything changed at km 11. The Catalan, who was still riding at the front of the race, avoided a muddy río and forged ahead, while Cyril Despres fell into the trap. The overall leader's bike got stuck in the mud, taking Paulo Gonçalves with him... Both of them spent almost ten minutes and massive amounts of energy to get out of there. Suddenly, the path to victory had cleared for Coma. It was a chance he could not possibly miss! Aware of his rival's mishaps, the Catalan rider put the hammer down from the very beginning, until the risk of damage to his own motorcycle made him lower his pace near the finish. In the end, he bagged his 20th Dakar win (fourth one this year) with a 7'00" gap over Portugal's Ruben Faria and 8'44" over Hélder Rodrigues, another Portuguese rider.




Nevertheless, the motorcycle race officials rectified the situation after the end of the stage: given that the organisers had changed the route of today's stage after the seventh motorcycle had gone by (in order to prevent the caravan from getting stuck in the muddy río), the race directors decided to deduct the time lost by Coma, Despres, Gonçalves, Rodrigues, Farrés Güell, Ullevalseter and Casteu from their final times. As a result, Marc Coma seized the lead with a 1'26" margin over Cyril Despres. Behind them, the last podium step is still up for grabs, with Hélder Rodrigues in third place, 20'51" ahead of David Casteu, who today climbed to the fourth place. Paulo Gonçalves now sits fifth, 2'19" behind the Frenchman.

Roma beats Gordon by a "nani"-metre... In the car category, Robby Gordon gave it his all once more in an attempt to get his first stage win in the 2012 edition. And it seemed so close for eight minutes, until the ever-consistent Nani Roma arrived and ended up winning... by 5 meagre seconds! Nevertheless, this propelled the American up the overall classification thanks to his gains of 2'04" on Krzysztof Hołowczyc and 5'33" on Stéphane Peterhansel, who went down with a flat tyre 30 km before the finish. As a result, Gordon now sits in second place, 12" ahead of the Pole and, most importantly, "just" 7'36" behind "Peter".

Today's stage was once more marked by the bad luck of Nasser Al-Attiyah, whose Hummer was plagued by technical problems again. The Qatari, who was the first driver on the course, was forced to stop several times during the special due to reasons including wobbly spare tyres and alternator problems. Despite finishing the stage at full speed, the defending champion lost another 8'09" and is now 45'25" behind the race leader.

Throughout most of the special, today's quad race saw a lone rider: Alejandro Patronelli, who led the special at the first three checkpoints and only surrendered the lead in the last few kilometres, when his brother Marcos surged ahead to win by 38". This new stellar performance by the two Argentineans was only threatened from afar by the inevitable Tomás Maffei, who lost 9'50" but defended his second place in the overall classification, where Marcos Patronelli inched closer to him and now stands 12'52" back.

Finally, the truck category. After finishing the last two stages in second place, the Czech Republic's Ales Loprais has finally taken his first win in this edition, which is also his fourth Dakar victory. He won by 1'31" over general classification leader, the Netherlands' Gerard de Rooy, who nevertheless kept a comfortable margin of 15'39" over Loprais and 48'06" over his Dutch teammate Hans Stacey.

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Stage 8 - Driver Quotes

Marc Coma:

A very long special. I was lucky not to lose too much time in the mud and then I saw I could open a gap, so I attacked really hard. But towards the end I noticed I had engine problems towards the end, so I took slowed down a bit to ensure I would make it to the finish. This is my 20th special victory: a nice figure. Yet it is not winning specials that counts, but winning the race. And I know there is still a long week of racing ahead.

Nani Roma:

No mistakes were allowed in this fast stage. I pulled out all the stops in the second part. I drove like this for 15 to 20 kilometres and then there was a turn. Then it was back to putting the pedal on the metal for 20 more kilometres. I could not drive any better or go any faster. I am happy with this stage, happy with my victory. I am also happy because we did not have any mechanical problems. The car is working well. In the end I was just behind Stéphane [Peterhansel], but I was unable to overtake him.

Cyril Despres:

There was a torrent of mud between the inspection of the reconnaissance car two days ago and today. Therefore, it did not appear in the road book and I was the first to fall into the trap. There was no way I could have avoided it. I am awaiting the organisers' decision: after Ullevalseter, Gonçalves and a few others had gone through, they took a detour, otherwise there would have been 200 vehicles trapped in the mud. So I fail to see why I and the others should be the only ones to pay the price. But I do not think we will let this be.

Helder Rodrigues:

Everyone thought today was going to be a calm day, but it turned out to be quite difficult. There was a lot of navigational work, especially a muddy area in a río near km 11. Many riders got stuck in there, it was incredible. But I am still third in the general classification, and that is great.

Gerard de Rooy:

Today was rather tough. The first part was quite humpy. We had an interesting battle with Loprais. He overtook me in a slightly bad section and I caught up with him roughly 50 kilometres later. This is good for our morale. We lost a few minutes to him but there is still a long way to go. I will do my best to be consistent and avoid flat tyres.

Robby Gordon:

Nani may have beat me, but it must have been close. Beating Peterhansel by seven minutes makes this a great day. In all honesty, I did not attack too much, except towards the end of the stage. At any rate, I was not at my best in the first 300 kilometres, only in the last 150. I felt the others breathing down my neck, so I accelerated.

Nasser Al Attiyah:

We had a problem with an engine belt. We repaired it... and shortly after it was the alternator's turn to need a repair. But then we started attacking in earnest. There were six cars in front of us and we overtook all the Minis, as well as De Villiers' Toyota. We did a good job. They are nervous because I overtook all of them, but that is not my problem. I know everything is going smoothly, and we will see how far we can go.

Stephane Peterhansel:

I am losing loads of time. I drove quite slowly in the rocky parts because I was scared of punctures. And despite this... I had one 30 km from the finish. It was a bad special, but that is the way it is. Gordon started three minutes before us, and 180 kilometres from here we had got to 30 seconds behind him. I think that when he saw us he stepped it up, leaving us in the dust. He can win this thing, so it is essential for him to manage this situation as well as he can.

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