Ekstrom hauls in ‘lost’ Loeb to win

– Mattias Ekstrom grabbed victory after Sebastien Loeb got lost on stage eight of the Dakar Rally yesterday, while the Benavides brothers took the top two places in the bike competition.

Frenchman Loeb led by twoand-half minutes after 366km of the 458km stage from Al Duwadimi to Hail but went off course, had to double back and lost time.

Swede Ekstrom (right), whose chances of overall victory were wiped out by suspension problems the previous day, swept into the lead and finished two minutes and 45 seconds ahead of Audi team-mate Stephane Peterhansel. Another Frenchman, Guerlain Chicherit, was third at 3min 10sec.

Overall leader Carlos Sainz was fourth at 5min 13sec in his Audi, to gain more time on his closest challengers Loeb, who ended up 10th, and Brazilian Lucas Moraes of Toyota, who finished seventh, 9min 51sec behind the winner.

“I was really pushing hard all through the stage, but we made a mistake with the navigation and lost around 10 minutes, so we again lost quite a lot of time to Carlos,” said Loeb.

Sainz said he was aware his luck could change.

“There’s still a long way for me and there are long stages to come,” the 61-year-old Spaniard said. “You can see how easy it is to lose five or 10 minutes on this race. It’s so easy, due to navigation, punctures, everything.

In the bikes, defending champion Kevin Benavides won on a KTM, 31sec ahead of younger brother Luciano on a Husqvarna.

“Today was two completely different specials. The first part was sandy with dunes...then we switched terrain and entered here in this kind of rocky terrain and mountains,” said the older Benavides.

Overall bikes leader, American Honda rider Ricky Brabec finished at 4min 8sec down to gain a few seconds on his closest pursuer Botswana’s Ross Branch on a Hero.