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Nasser Al-Attiyah maintained his Dakar Rally lead at eight minutes as the event reached its rest day, with fellow World Rally Championship regular Yazeed Al-Rajhi scoring his first stage win.
Giniel de Villiers had carved three minutes out of Al-Attiyah's lead on stage seven on Saturday, and made further gains early on stage eight, helped by his X-raid Mini driver stopping to change a wheel after a puncture
But Al-Attiyah was able to peg the Imperial Toyota back late on the stage, with de Villiers frustrated by a low-flying helicopter affecting his vision.
Al-Attiyah therefore maintained his outright cushion at 8m27s heading into Monday's break.
The run back from Uyuni to Iquique was split into three: an initial 293-mile run - much of it flat-out on salt flats - followed by a 170-mile neutralised section then a final 24-mile sprint to the finish.
It formed the second leg of a 'marathon' stage with Saturday's special, with crews unable to call on team assistance through the weekend and not returning to the service bivouac until Sunday night.
Dakar rookie Al-Rajhi consolidated his current third place overall by claiming his maiden stage win in his Toyota, beating Orlando Terranova by 1m12s. Al-Attiyah and de Villiers were next up.
Stephane Peterhansel was the top Peugeot in seventh, keeping him in eighth place on the outright leaderboard.
LEADING STAGE EIGHT TIMES:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yazeed Al-Rajhi | Yazeed Racing | Toyota | 3h26m49.s |
| 2 | Orlando Terranova | Monster Energy Rally Raid Team | Mini/BMW | 1m12.s |
| 3 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Qatar Rally Team | Mini/BMW | 2m36.s |
| 4 | Giniel de Villiers | Toyota Imperial Team South Africa | Toyota | 2m49.s |
| 5 | Krzysztof Holowczyc | Monster Energy Rally Raid Team | Mini/BMW | 3m12.s |
| 6 | Nani Roma | Monster Energy Rally Raid Team | Mini/BMW | 3m24.s |
| 7 | Stephane Peterhansel | Team Peugeot Total | Peugeot | 3m46.s |
| 8 | Vladimir Vasilyev | Vasilyev Racing Team | Mini/BMW | 6m00.s |
| 9 | Boris Garafulic | Team X-Raid Gmbh | Mini/BMW | 10m09.s |
| 10 | Carlos Sousa | Mitsubishi Petrobras | Mitsubishi | 11m17.s |
LEADING OVERALL STANDINGS AFTER STAGE EIGHT:
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