Dakar 2018: Peterhansel, Benavides and Nikolaev hold sway as Dakar Rally reaches rest stop

Stephane Peterhansel of Peugeot, Kevin Benavides of Honda and Eduard Nikolaev of Kamaz hold the lead in the car, bike and truck classes of the Dakar Rally, respectively, as the event crosses over into Bolivia for its rest day in La Paz.

Peterhansel holds a 27-minute lead over fellow Peugeot 3008 DKR driver Carlos Sainz, while Bernhard Ten Brinke and Nasser Al-Attiyah are both over 1hr. 20min behind the former 13-time Dakar Rally winner. The two are behind the wheel of a Toyota Hilux as is overall fifth placed driver Giniel De Villiers.

Jakub Przygonski of the X-Raid MINI team is sixth overall ahead of Martin Prokop in his Ford F150 EVO, and Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi’s privately entered 3008 DKR Maxi.

Eugenio Amos in his 2WD Buggy SMG and Patrick Sireyjol in his Buggy LCR30 completes the top ten.

Much to the dismay of his many fans, former nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb has been forced to retire from the event. During stage five, his co-driver Daniel Elena suffered an injured sternum when the Frenchman went into a sudden dip while trying to avoid another stranded competitor.

With Peugeot not returning for 2019, it is likely to be Loeb’s last ever attempt at the Dakar Rally, unless he signs with another manufacturer.

BENAVIDES LEADS THE BIKERS

With the retirement of KTM’s Sam Sunderland, an opportunity has arisen for Japanese marques Honda as well as Yamaha to claim Dakar Rally glory. It will be a close fight, however, as Honda’s Kevin Benavides leads Yamaha’s Adrien Van Beveren by just under two minutes in the overall standing.

A little under two minutes behind Beveren is KTM’s Mattias Walkner, and less than six minutes behind him is Honda’s Joan Barreda, who lost the lead of the rally earlier in the week after a navigation error dropped him to the tail of the top 15.

Barreda has been making his way up the order, however, and it is uncertain who will get to finally taste the victory champagne by the time the rally ends on the 20^th. Especially, as not far behind Barreda is KTM’s Toby Price, just six seconds adrift in sixth place overall and just over a minute ahead of fellow KTM rider Antoine Meo.

Yamaha’s Xavier De Soultrait, Husqvarna’s Pablo Quintanilla and KTM’s Gerard Farres Guell and Stefan Svitko complete the top ten.

NIKOLAEV AND KAMAZ LEAD

As has become almost par for the course, Eduard Nikolaev in his Kamaz Master holds the overall lead among the truck class. Just under 53 minutes behind him is IVECO’s Federico Vilagra, followed by MAZ’s Siarhei Viazovich.

Liaz’s Martin Macik is fourth overall, followed by Kamaz’s Dmitry Sotnikov, Hino’s Teruhito Sugawara, Kamaz’s Airat Mardeev and the two IVECO drivers Ton Van Genugten and Artur Ardavichus. Maurik Van Den Heuvel completes the top ten.