Dakar: Barreda wins again as Sunderland maintains the lead

Joan Barreda has taken yet another stage victory in the 2017 Dakar Rally as he looks to limit the damage caused by his Monster Energy Honda team’s hour-long penalty for illegal refuelling – but British racer Sam Sunderland came home in third place to maintain his overall lead in the race.

One of the longest stages of this year’s race with 450km of timed racing, Barreda led from start to finish with Sunderland’s Red Bull KTM teammate Matthias Walkner in second. But the race leader had more work to do, rallying himself back after a steady start saw him drop down as far as 11^th after the first waypoint.

But with Barreda all but out of the overall contention thanks to him and his teammate’s penalty earlier in the race, Sunderland’s closest opposition remains Paulo Quintanilla in second, some twenty minutes down on him, with the good day for Walkner leaving him third overall, another 14 minutes back.

Lyndon Poskitt again came through in the top 50, with fellow Brits Max Hunt 59^th, Kurt Burroughs 104^th and David Watson 105^th.

Tomorrow’s stage will be the day that the race is won or lost, however, with 1000km to travel and a real test of navigation skills, with nearly the entire 406km special stage off-road.

Standings after Stage 8:

1. Sam Sunderland
2. Pablo Quintanilla +20:58.3
3. Adrian van Beveren +28:49.4  
4. Matthias Walkner +34:14.5
5. Gerard Farres +34:24.6
6. Xavier de Soultrait +50:10.7
7. Pela Renet +1:08:09.8
8. Paulo Goncalves +1:08:34.9
9. Joan Barreda +1:10:53.10
10. Joaquim Rodrigues +1h36m00s