Stage 8 Winner : 301 - Stéphane Peterhansel/Jean-paul Cottret - X-Raid BMW - BMW X3 CCStage 8 : January 10, 2010 : Antofagasta to Copiapo - Connection 96 km / Special 472 km
Three "Blues” top the leader board: Volkswagen comfortably defended its first three positions overall on the Dakar Rally’s eighth stage between Antofagasta to Copiapó. Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (E/E) finished second on the day and continue to hold the overall lead by 14 minutes 35 seconds ahead of their team mates Nasser Al-Attiyah/Timo Gottschalk (Q/D) and 22 minutes 28 seconds in front of Mark Miller/Ralph Pitchford (USA/ZA).
Overall leader : 303 - Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz - Volkswagen Race Touareg 2The rally professionals staged and open head-to-head battle throughout the 472 kilometre long and extremely tough stage through Chile. The official time keeping recorded no less than four changes to the lead. To start, the X-raid BMW drivers Guerlain Chicherit (F) and Stéphane Peterhansel (F) exchanged places up until the mid-point of the stage before Mark Miller assumed the lead for Volkswagen. Then last year’s winners Giniel de Villiers/Dirk von Zitzewitz (ZA/D) took control of the proceedings in the fourth Race Touareg before they were caught by Peterhansel just short of the finish line. Peterhansel moved up to fourth place overall as closest rival to the Volkswagen trio almost two hours behind.
After suffering two punctures each Sainz, Miller, de Villiers and Al-Attiyah took second to fifth in the day’s classification separated by 3 minutes 32 seconds.
Stage 8 Result : January 10, 2010 : Antofagasta to Copiapo - Connection 96 km / Special 472 km
Pl | No. | Driver | Car | Time | Variation | Penalty |
| 1 | 301 | PETERHANSEL (FRA) COTTRET (FRA) | BMW | 05:06:05 | 00:00:00 | |
| 2 | 303 | SAINZ (ESP) CRUZ (ESP) | VOLKSWAGEN | 05:06:50 | 00:00:45 | |
| 3 | 305 | MILLER (USA) PITCHFORD (ZAF) | VOLKSWAGEN | 05:07:12 | 00:01:07 | |
| 4 | 300 | DE VILLIERS (ZAF) VON ZITZEWITZ (DEU) | VOLKSWAGEN | 05:10:06 | 00:04:01 | |
| 5 | 306 | AL-ATTIYAH (QAT) GOTTSCHALK (DEU) | VOLKSWAGEN | 05:10:22 | 00:04:17 | |
| 6 | 311 | TERRANOVA (ARG) MAIMON (FRA) | MITSUBISHI | 05:13:20 | 00:07:15 | |
| 7 | 314 | SOUSA (PRT) BAUMEL (FRA) | MITSUBISHI | 05:27:15 | 00:21:10 | |
| 8 | 307 | CHICHERIT (FRA) THOERNER (CHE) | BMW | 05:28:09 | 00:22:04 | |
| 9 | 308 | HOLOWCZYC (POL) FORTIN (BEL) | Nissan Overdrive | 05:31:37 | 00:25:32 | |
| 10 | 302 | GORDON (USA) GRIDER (USA) | HUMMER | 05:43:04 | 00:36:59 | |
| 11 | 322 | SPINELLI (BRA) PALMEIRO (PRT) | MITSUBISHI | 05:47:27 | 00:41:22 | |
| 12 | 336 | LEAL DOS SANTOS (PRT) FIUZA (PRT) | BMW | 05:52:06 | 00:46:01 | |
| 13 | 351 | BALDWIN (USA) WALCH (USA) | HUMMER | 06:00:14 | 00:54:09 | |
| 14 | 318 | MISSLIN (FRA) POLATO (FRA) | MITSUBISHI | 06:01:13 | 00:55:08 | |
| 15 | 332 | BARBOSA (PRT) RAMALHO (PRT) | MITSUBISHI | 06:02:40 | 00:56:35 | |
| 16 | 310 | NOVITSKIY (RUS) SCHULZ (DEU) | BMW | 06:06:11 | 01:00:06 | |
| 17 | 315 | KAHLE (DEU) SCHÜNEMANN (DEU) | Fast - Speed | 06:17:08 | 01:11:03 | |
| 18 | 325 | HENRARD (BEL) BEGUIN (BEL) | VOLKSWAGEN | 06:21:59 | 01:15:54 | |
| 19 | 383 | JIANG (CHN) BARTHOLOME (BEL) | CHERY | 06:38:16 | 01:32:11 | |
| 20 | 338 | GIBON (FRA) MIURA (JPN) | TOYOTA | 06:40:31 | 01:34:26 | |
| 21 | 341 | MITSUHASHI (JPN) CATTARELLI (FRA) | TOYOTA | 06:41:13 | 01:35:08 | |
| 22 | 337 | VAN LOON (NLD) VERHOEF (NLD) | MITSUBISHI | 06:49:52 | 01:43:47 | |
| 23 | 317 | VAN DEIJNE (NLD) ROSEGAAR (NLD) | MITSUBISHI | 07:10:13 | 02:04:08 | |
| 24 | 330 | SIREYJOL (FRA) WISSMANNS (FRA) | BOWLER | 07:13:30 | 02:07:25 | |
| 25 | 321 | DE AZEVEDO (BRA) CAVASSIN (BRA) | MITSUBISHI | 07:27:55 | 02:21:50 | |
| 26 | 379 | POTTIER (FRA) GOSSELIN (FRA) | BUGGY MD | 07:36:30 | 02:30:25 | |
| 27 | 377 | FAVRE (FRA) FAVRE (FRA) | TOYOTA | 07:38:17 | 02:32:12 | |
| 28 | 335 | WALLENTHEIM (SWE) OHLSSON (SWE) | ISUZU | 07:40:37 | 02:34:32 | |
| 29 | 352 | BOUTRON (FRA) MARTIN (FRA) | BOWLER | 07:48:32 | 02:42:27 | |
| 30 | 370 | FROMONT (FRA) REYNAUD (FRA) | BOWLER | 07:50:26 | 02:44:21 |
Stage 8 - Overall Standing
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Images : 2010 Dakar -Stage 8 : Antofagasta to Copiapo
[Source : 2010 Dakar - Official, VOLKSWAGEN, X-Raid]
