Dakar 2012 Stage 8 - Roma wins stage, but only just

Gordon is yet to win a stage on the 2012 Dakar, and this was the closest he's come so far. While he missed out on the stage win, the result propelled the American up the overall classification thanks to his gains of 2'04" on Krzysztof Hołowczyc (Mini) and 5'33" on Stéphane Peterhansel (Mini), who went down with a flat tyre 30 km before the finish. As a result, Gordon now sits in second place, 12" ahead of the Pole and, more importantly, 7'36" behind Peterhansel.
"Nani may have beat me, but it must have been close," Gordon noted. "Beating Peterhansel by seven minutes makes this a great day. In all honesty, I did not attack too much, except towards the end of the stage. At any rate, I was not at my best in the first 300 kilometres, only in the last 150. I felt the others breathing down my neck, so I accelerated."

Through the dry and dusty Stage 8, the X Raid Minis were strong again, taking three of the top four places. Caution from rally leader, Stephane Peterhansel, didn't pay off, as he lost time in addition to suffering the puncture.
"I am losing loads of time," Peterhansel conceded. "I drove quite slowly in the rocky parts because I was scared of punctures. And despite this... I had one 30 km from the finish. It was a bad special, but that is the way it is. Gordon started three minutes before us, and 180 kilometres from here we had got to 30 seconds behind him. I think that when he saw us he stepped it up, leaving us in the dust. He can win this thing, so it is essential for him to manage this situation as well as he can."

After his blazing result on Stage 7, bad luck struck Nasser Al-Attiyah again. The Qatari, who was the first driver on the course, was forced to stop several times during the special due to loose spare tyres (the same problem that led to his Hummer overheating on Stage 5), engine and alternator problems. Despite finishing the stage at full speed, the defending champion lost another 8'09" and is now 45'25" behind the race leader.
"We had a problem with an engine belt," Al-Attiyah explained. "We repaired it... and shortly after it was the alternator's turn to need a repair. But then we started attacking in earnest. There were six cars in front of us and we overtook all the Minis, as well as De Villiers' Toyota."

For his part, Roma attributed his stage win to fast, mistake-free driving.
"No mistakes were allowed in this fast stage. I pulled out all the stops in the second part. I drove like this for 15 to 20 kilometres and then there was a turn. Then it was back to putting the pedal on the metal for 20 more kilometres. I could not drive any better or go any faster. I am happy with this stage, happy with my victory. I am also happy because we did not have any mechanical problems," Roma explained.

After Stage 8, overall positions have changed little, with Peterhansel still leading from Gordon, Holowczyc, Roma, de Villiers (Toyota), Al-Attiyah, Novitskiy (Mini), Sousa (Great Wall), Alvarez (Toyota), and Van Loon (Mitsubishi) completing the top ten.

After a broken driveshaft robbed him of hours of time on Stage 7, Geoff Olholm returned with a vengeance on Stage 8, passing 40 vehicles to reclaim a big chunk of the time he lost on Stage 7. Olholm finished 33rd on the quick Antofagasta stage and moved up from 87th to 78th overall, despite the 8 hour time penalty incurred from the previous day's stage.

Stage 9 is characterised by a Special Stage split into two sections, separated by a transit section across the 'Salar de Llamara' salt flats as the Dakar moves further north into Chile. Part one of the two-part 556km Special Stage will be characterised by the 'fesh fesh' sand, while part two will call for precise navigation across the featureless landscape that leads down to Iquique, the finish point for Stage 9.

For full results and further details, go to www.dakar.com

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