SANTIAGO, Chile — Race leader Carlos Sainz of Spain tightened his grip on the Dakar Rally on Sunday by winning the 8th stage between the central Chilean port city of Valparaiso and La Serena.
Sainz covered the 294 kilometers (182 miles) in 3 hours 47 minutes, 19 seconds, leading home a clean sweep of the top three stage places f0r Volkswagen drivers.
Dieter Depping of Germany was second, 4 minutes, 2 seconds behind the Spaniard. Mark Miller of the United States was third at 4:12, followed by Spain’s Nani Roma, driving a Mitsubishi, at 4:15, and Giniel De Villiers of South Africa, another Volkswagen driver, at 10:48.
Sainz is followed by De Villiers, Miller, Roma and American NASCAR driver Robby Gordon in a Hummer in the overall standings of the race, which is being staged for the first time in South America.
Despite having a lead of more than 10 minutes, Sainz said: “As long as the rally isn’t over, nothing is certain. I’m keeping my fingers crossed and I hope that we’ll carry on being as successful as we have been today.
“Today was the first time we have driven on tracks. In fact, this stage was very much like a traditional rally stage. Up until now, those are the first real tracks that I’ve seen. But it was very nice, very slippery and sometimes quite tricky.”
In the motorbike competition, France’s Cyril Despres won the 8th stage in 4:07:39, followed by Spain’s Marc Coma, who finished 1 minute and 49 seconds behind but held on to the race lead.
Chile’s Francisco Lopez placed third, 2:56 behind Despres. All three men rode KTM bikes.
Coma is followed in the standings by France’s David Fretigne, riding a Yamaha, and Despres. Fretigne placed sixth Sunday.
The race resumes on Monday with a stage from La Serena to Copiapo, taking competitors through the Atacama desert.
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