Brabec strengthens his lead in the overall standings after stage eight

After ten days of rallying there is an intense battle for the top spot on Dakar 2024 with the single second difference between Ricky Brabec and Ross Branch after stage seven turning the competition on its head with only four days to go as the kilometres count down.

Today’s stage saw riders travel north from Al Duwadimi to Ha’il with a 125 km road section before sandy tracks and big difficult dunes that would play a part of the 458 km special stage. Entering a non-timed transfer zone of 179 km this would then take them back against the clock at the 344 km mark of the special, as the change to stony terrain would take them ever closer to the arrival point in the shadows of the Shammar mountain range.

Starting just behind his main rival on stage eight, Ricky Brabec pulled out the stops to lead most of the day increasing the gap at one point to over three minutes over Branch, but after 400 km of the special he had dropped behind his teammate Adrien Van Beveren that lost him time in the final 50 kms to end the day in seventh.  Having caught Branch early on he rode with him for the majority of the day not letting the Botswanan out of his sights as he opened up his overall standings lead to 42 seconds.

Van Beveren made the most of his tenth place starting position moving himself up the order after his favoured sand section to third.  Still chipping away for a podium position he gained another three minutes on the leading trio of Brabec, Branch and José Ignacio Cornejo.

The job of starting the stage was left to Cornejo and although at times the route got the better of him, he clung on for some much needed bonuses to finish just 14 seconds behind Van Beveren as he continues to occupy that final podium position overall.

Pablo Quintanilla was looking for a more positive day on the Dakar and although he featured amongst the top three during the early part of the stage, a lack of confidence in the dunes saw him fall down the order to eleventh.

With riders spending the night next to Ha’il airport, they will take off for stage nine towards AlUla which makes a return to the route on this year’s Dakar.  The fascinating ancient city will welcome the riders after a total 639 km distance, 417 km of which will test them to their limits with complicated navigation and rocky expanses keeping them on their toes.