The 2024 Dakar Rally bought just a bit tighter after stage eight. KTM’s Kevin Benavides made up floor on the leaders by profitable the stage narrowly over his Husqvarna-riding brother Luciano. Adrien Van Beveren was third, and now he finds himself very a lot in rivalry for the general, with 11 minutes to make up within the remaining 4 days. By ending seventh immediately, general chief Ricky Brabec did handle to get a barely larger cushion over second-place Ross Branch, however the two riders are nonetheless separated by lower than a minute. Today’s stage noticed riders journey north from Al Duwadimi to Ha’il with a 125 km highway part earlier than sandy tracks and massive troublesome dunes that will play part of the 458 km particular stage. Entering a non-timed switch zone of 179 km this is able to then take them again in opposition to the clock on the 344 km mark of the particular, because the change to stony terrain would take them ever nearer to the arrival level within the shadows of the Shammar mountain vary.

Ricky Brabec: “I didn’t want to start too far away from Ross tomorrow so I had to play a little bit of cat and mouse with him. I caught him early on so I stuck with him all day, then at the refueling point I saw some times and I was winning. I let Ross take over and open the way to the finish line as we had to play smart today and I didn’t want him starting behind me tomorrow. It was still a good day to finish seventh and I’ll continue to have fun out there.”

Jacob Argubright: “A nice uneventful stage 8 today, struggled a little bit in the camel grass and dunes with bike set up a bit but picked it up towards the end for P16.”

1. KEVIN BENAVIDES, RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING 03H 35′ 03”
2. LUCIANO BENAVIDES, HUSQVARNA FACTORY RACING + 00H 00′ 31”
3. ADRIEN VAN BEVEREN, MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM + 00H 01′ 27”
4. JOSE IGNACIO CORNEJO FLORIMO, MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM + 00H 01′ 41”
5. TOBY PRICE, RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING + 00H 02′ 18”
6. RUI GONÇALVES, SHERCO RALLY FACTORY + 00H 02′ 24”
7. RICKY BRABEC, MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM + 00H 04′ 08”
8. ROSS BRANCH, HERO MOTOSPORTS TEAM RALLY + 00H 04′ 49”
9. DANIEL SANDERS, RED BULL GASGAS FACTORY RACING + 00H 05′ 10”
10. STEFAN SVITKO, SLOVNAFT RALLY TEAM + 00H 05′ 28”
16. JACOB ARGUBRIGHT, DUUST RALLY TEAM + 00H 13′ 52”
69. KYLE MC COY, AMERICAN RALLY ORIGINALS + 01H 36′ 50”
81. WESTON CARR, HT RALLY RAID HUSQVARNA RACING + 01H 45′ 52”

STANDINGS AFTER STAGE 8
1. RICKY BRABEC, MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM 36H 16′ 31”
2. ROSS BRANCH, HERO MOTOSPORTS TEAM RALLY + 00H 00′ 42”
3. JOSE IGNACIO CORNEJO FLORIMO, MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM + 00H 04′ 21”
4. ADRIEN VAN BEVEREN, MONSTER ENERGY HONDA TEAM + 00H 11′ 58”
5. KEVIN BENAVIDES, RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING + 00H 20′ 31”
6. TOBY PRICE, RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING + 00H 29′ 10”
7. DANIEL SANDERS, RED BULL GASGAS FACTORY RACING + 00H 38′ 43”
8. LUCIANO BENAVIDES, HUSQVARNA FACTORY RACING + 00H 39′ 35” 00H 15′ 00”
9. STEFAN SVITKO, SLOVNAFT RALLY TEAM + 01H 11′ 53”
10. MARTIN MICHEK, ORION – MOTO RACING GROUP + 01H 56′ 53”
67. KYLE MC COY, AMERICAN RALLY ORIGINALS + 18H 34′ 41”
75. WESTON CARR, HT RALLY RAID HUSQVARNA RACING + 20H 45′ 31”
97. JACOB ARGUBRIGHT, DUUST RALLY TEAM + 52H 59′ 47”