Spain’s bike driver Marc Coma (KTM) reached the first place at the Dakar Rally 2012 eighth stage 17 minutes and 20 seconds over French Cyril Despres (KTM) and is the new leader of the overall ranking.
The Spaniard took advantage of the problem Despres had with the mud at the beginning of the special round of the stage and recovered time. He is currently 9 minutes and 32 second ahead of the French.
Despres and Portuguese Paulo Gonçalves (Husqvarna) were stuck in the mud and lost more than ten minutes while they managed to take their bikes from the area.
Portuguese Rubén Faria (KTM) was left second in the stage, seven minutes away from the winner and followed by Spain’s Joan Barreda (Husqvarna) in the third place.
Portuguese Helder Rodrigues (Yamaha) ended the stage in the fifth position while Spaniards Juan Pedrero (KTM) and Jordi Viladoms (KTM) were sixth and seventh respectively, more than ten minutes after Coma.
Spain’s Gerard Farrés ended up in the twelfth place before Despres, who finally ended the stage at the fourteenth place.
In the overall ranking, Coma replaced Despres from the top, while Rodrigues remains steady in the third place with almost twenty minutes over the fourth, although he is far from the first two places.
Viladoms gained one place and is fifth, ahead of his teammate Farrés, who is in the sixth place since previous stages.
Joan Pedrero also reached a better place in the overall and ended ninth.
The ninth stage of the rally will have 556 kilometres and the route will be from Antofagasta to Iquique.
buenosairesherald.com