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| The race is on! |
The day became more warmer as they descended downhill towards Iquique & with shorter stage, the casualty was a lot lesser, and more importantly in good shape for the rest of the race.
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| Marc Coma speaking to press |
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| Happy man, Soultrait, 6th fastest |
"The dare-devils took to the stage with valour of a soldier, and fought the odds littered ahead of them; only to emerge victorious at the desert floor, at Iquique." It was a lot more than that quoted sentence, and it also marked the strategies, and race winning calculations to measure the level of risk for the day, as needed.
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| Pablo Quintanilla |
The fore-front riders were almost cruising & racing sometimes, but with more care, mostly connected to their brains for a better fortune at the end of the race.
Marc Coma finished 9th fastest, 7m37s to the stage winner the Chilean,
KTM rider -
Pablo Quintanilla. But he was much ahead of already trailing former leader and Honda rider
Paulo Goncalves, who finished with 12m17s to the stage leader.
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| Long way down to finish @ Iquique |
Juan Pedrero Garcia, a Spaniard on his Yamaha was second fastest through the stage with 11s down to
Quintanilla, and Slovakian was third with a gap of just 12s.
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| Laia Sanz looks behind for chasers |
The lady rider of Dakar,
Laia Sanz scored a 5th quickest time with 2m36s down the stage winner. E
xcelente Laia!
A strong place finish to the Indian rider,
C S Santosh, who is braving all the injuries he has suffered so far. He finished 32nd and 36th in overall. Kudos champ!
Top 5 Bikes, Stage 8
| Pos. | N° | Name | Mark | Time | Difference | Penalty |
|---|
| 1 | 31 | QUINTANILLA (CHL) | KTM | 02:56:19 | - | - |
| 2 | 10 | PEDRERO GARCIA (ESP) | YAMAHA | 02:56:30 | 00:00:11 | - |
| 3 | 18 | SVITKO (SVK) | KTM | 02:56:31 | 00:00:12 | - |
| 4 | 26 | PRICE (AUS) | KTM | 02:57:00 | 00:00:41 | - |
| 5 | 29 | SANZ PLA-GIRIBERT (ESP) | HONDA | 02:58:55 | 00:02:36 | - |
| 32 | 59 | C S SANTOSH (IND) | KTM | 03:48:12 | 00:51:53 | - |
Overall Top 5, Bikes after Stage 8
| Pos. | N° | Name | Mark | Time | Difference | Penalty |
|---|
| 1 | 1 | COMA (ESP) | KTM | 28:51:12 | - | - |
| 2 | 7 | GONCALVES (PRT) | HONDA | 29:00:23 | 00:09:11 | - |
| 3 | 31 | QUINTANILLA (CHL) | KTM | 29:02:23 | 00:11:11 | - |
| 4 | 26 | PRICE (AUS) | KTM | 29:07:08 | 00:15:56 | - |
| 5 | 18 | SVITKO (SVK) | KTM | 29:17:42 | 00:26:30 | - |
| 36 | 59 | C S SANTOSH (IND) | KTM | 38:16:55 | 09:25:43 | - |
Quads
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| Ignacio N. Casale with reporters |
Dare-devilry? Nothing short of that with the Quads riders, in fact a tad bigger I can say! Argentinian
Jeremias Gonzalez Ferioli, recorded the fastest time, followed by
Ignacio Nicolas Casale in 7m54s, and
Sergio Lafauente finished in third with a time gap of 11m4s. All top three rider on a their Yamaha Quads.
Casale now moves ahead of
Rafal [Super]
Sonik in overall positions, who finished the day in 9th place, and loses his lead to the Chilean.
Top 5 Quads, Stage 8
| Pos. | N° | Name | Mark | Time | Difference | Penalty |
|---|
| 1 | 261 | GONZALEZ FERIOLI (ARG) | YAMAHA | 03:43:35 | - | - |
| 2 | 250 | CASALE (CHL) | YAMAHA | 03:51:29 | 00:07:54 | - |
| 3 | 252 | LAFUENTE (URY) | YAMAHA | 03:54:39 | 00:11:04 | - |
| 4 | 283 | NOSIGLIA (BOL) | HONDA | 04:00:13 | 00:16:38 | - |
| 5 | 260 | DECLERCK (FRA) | YAMAHA | 04:13:12 | 00:29:37 | - |
Overall Top 5, Quads after Stage 8
| Pos. | N° | Name | Mark | Time | Difference | Penalty |
|---|
| 1 | 250 | CASALE (CHL) | YAMAHA | 36:04:14 | - | 00:20:00 |
| 2 | 251 | SONIK (POL) | YAMAHA | 36:11:03 | 00:06:49 | 00:15:00 |
| 3 | 252 | LAFUENTE (URY) | YAMAHA | 36:53:25 | 00:49:11 | - |
| 4 | 261 | GONZALEZ FERIOLI (ARG) | YAMAHA | 38:50:00 | 02:45:46 | - |
| 5 | 256 | SANABRIA GALEANO (PRY) | YAMAHA | 39:34:39 | 03:30:25 | - |
It was also a home coming for Tom Coronel, who had to stay back at the desert due to issues with his Maxxis buggy yesterday. And today, he suffered another crash. Watch it here!
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| Day 10, route for Bikes & Quads |
From, tomorrow the action is going to be all 'Mad Max'. It will be show of speed, skills & strategies. It will be important to see who can make it, and who cannot in the race towards the finish line at Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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| Day 10, route for Cars & Trucks |
Day 10, starts with stage 9 for all the competitors and will leave Iquique to finish the day at Calama. It will be over tens n hundreds of kilometers of dunes & desert stretches.
The motorcyclists and quad bikers will set off for their second marathon stage! After the Chile-Argentina border, this time the day's special stage will start on the Salinas Grandes, more than 3,600m above sea level. The altitude should curb the competitors' enthusiasm and cool down their engines. The more technical final phase will separate the toughest of them from the rest. For the liaison section, the route will then follow the Paso de l'Acay, at an altitude of 4,970m. Until tomorrow, good night!
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