Dakar 2018: Sainz holds the lead for Peugeot among cars while Van Beveren barely keeps Yamaha on top among the bikes

Carlos Sainz continues to hold the overall lead of the Dakar Rally for Peugeot while Adrien Van Beveren of Yamaha is a mere six seconds ahead of Honda's Kevin Benavides in the bike category. Kamaz's Eduard Nikolaev still leads the truck category.

After getting roadside repairs from Cyril Despres on stage seven, Stephane Peterhansel was able to continue in the Dakar Rally and marked the start of a comeback by winning his 40th Dakar stage yesterday as he holds third place behind the Toyota Hilux of Nasser Al-Attiyah. 

He will have one less stage in which to try and make up ground however, after stage nine was cancelled. Here is the official statement by the Dakar Rally organizers.

The organisers of the Dakar have no choice but to cancel stage 9, which was supposed to take place between Tupiza and Salta on Monday. Weather conditions in the area in the last few days are preventing assistance crews from refurbishing race vehicles for tomorrow's stage after the demanding marathon stage. The field of the Dakar will therefore head to the Salta bivouac by road. The rally will resume with stage 10 from Salta to Belén..

Toyota's Bernhard Ten Brinke and Giniel De Villiers, followed by MINI's Jakub Przygonski, Ford's Martin Prokop, Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi in his privately entered Peugeot 3008, Toyota's Peter Van Merksteijn and Nicholas Fuchs in a Borgward BX7 round out the top ten.

CLOSE FIGHT IN BIKE CLASS

In the bike section, the battle is extremely intense as Yamaha's Adrien Van Beveren holds just a six second lead over Honda's Kevin Benavides after the completion of eight stages. The KTM duo of Matthias Walkner and Toby Price are just six and seven minutes adrift, respectively. 

Honda's Joan Barreda holds on to fifth place overall despite riding with a heavily injured left knee, while the KTMs of Antoine Meo and Stefan Svitko trail the Spaniard. 

Honda's Ricky Brabec, KTM's Gerard Farres Guell and Johnny Aubert on a Gas Gas Rally Replica 450 (KTM powered) round out the top ten.

KAMAZ HOLDS SWAY

The truck class continues to be led by Kamaz's Eduard Nikolaev by 46 minutes. IVECO's Federico Villagra, Liaz's Martin Macik, Maz's Siarhei Viazovich, Kamaz's Airat Mardeev, IVECO's Ton Van Genugten, Hino's Teruhito Sugawara, IVECO's Artur Ardavichus, Kamaz's Dmitry Sotnikov and Scania's Maurik Van Den Heuvel complete the top ten.