The Cathar won 709 kilometers in 375 kilometers between Sakaka and Neom in two hours, 56 minutes and 56 seconds.
Three-time rally champion Al-Atija has already won four of the eight stages of this year’s race, as well as the prologue, but is still four minutes and 50 seconds behind Frenchman Stefan Petransel (“Mini”).
Last year’s winner, Carlos Sains, finished 52 seconds behind the winner in the “Mini” stage, which ran along the Red Sea coast, while Petransel remained third three minutes and three seconds behind the Qatari pilot.
Saints is 38 minutes and 55 seconds behind Petransela, the thirteen-time winner of Dakar.
On Tuesday, athletes will be waiting for the ninth stage of 574 kilometers, in which 465 kilometers will be special stages. The stage around Neomas will take place in the sand and is likely to be one of the heaviest in the rally.
In the motorcycle class, Jose Ignasio Corneho of Chile from the “Monster Energy Honda” team increased the lead in the overall standings after his first victory in this year’s race.
He was one minute and five seconds ahead of Australian Toby Pruss (KTM) and two minutes and 50 seconds ahead of Rally Breibek (“Monster Energy Honda”), the winner of the 2020 rally.
In the overall standings, Corneho’s advantage over Praise is a minute and six seconds, but over British Sam Sunderland from KTM – five minutes and 57 seconds.
After a serious accident in the eighth stage, one of the main contenders for the overall victory was the Frenchman Savior de Sultre. Before the accident, he was fourth in the overall standings, at one time also in charge of the competition. Sultre delivered to the hospital in Tabuk.
The Dakar Rally is taking place for the 43rd time and is taking place in Saudi Arabia for the second time in a row. The rally ride prologue and 12 stages will end on January 15 in Jeddah.
Last year, the Spanish motorist Carlos Sains (“Mini”) won the car class in the Dakar Rally, while Rickie Breibek from the USA (“Honda”) won the motorcycle.
The rally ride took place 29 times in Africa between 1979 and 2007, but was canceled in 2008 for security reasons. However, it made its debut in South America the following year.
The endurance journey, which began in 1979 between Paris and the Senegalese capital, Dakar, moved to Saudi Arabia for the first time in ten years last year in South America.
