Qatari eyeing Dakar glory

TOYOTA Gazoo Racing SA’s Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel extended their overall Dakar Rally lead to 49min 29sec despite finishing second on Stage 8.

It was a nailbiting affair when the crews tackled the 360km test that saw the rally leave behind the fabled lines of Nazca and return to the coastal town of Pisco.

For Al-Attiyah of Qatar and his French navigator Baumel, the stage was another big hurdle to clear in their quest to win the race for Toyota in their South African-built Hilux.

Al-Attiyah, a two-time winner of the Dakar, set about the stage with surgical precision. This put the crew in a strong road position and allowed the Qatari to push on through some of the toughest dunes experienced in this year’s race.

“We are really happy with our performance today,” said Al-Attiyah.

“It was tough out there but the car was absolutely perfect and we didn’t make any serious mistakes. The team did an amazing job to prepare the car for us, and we hope to repay them by bringing home the big trophy.”

Al Attiyah and Baumel set the second-fastest time, just 07:27 behind Sebastien Loeb in a Peugeot, who had fallen behind in the overall standings but showed his class by conquering Stage 8.

Third on the stage was MINI’s Jakub Przygonski, who finished eight minutes behind Al-Attiyah.

The pressure on Al-Attiyah eased slightly when “Mr Dakar” Stephane Peterhansel lost 24 minutes after getting stuck in big dunes midway through the stage.

This allowed Al-Attiyah to extend his lead at the top of the standings to 46:29 over Mini’s Nani Roma.

Al-Attiyah’s teammate Giniel de Villiers of South Africa and his German navigator Dirk von Zitzewitz showed their class by posting the fourth fastest time, just 15 minutes behind Loeb.

“We had a really good, clean stage today,” said De Villiers. “As always on the Dakar, there were some small issues, but overall we are really pleased.”