Van Beveren and Schareina reduce the deficit in the overall standings as Quintanilla retires

It was a day of mixed emotions for Monster Energy Honda HRC on stage eight of this year's Dakar Rally, following success for Adrien Van Beveren and Tosha Schareina who rode well to hold down their overall podium positions, however Dakar Legend and teammate Pablo Quintanilla was unfortunately forced to withdraw.

Stage eight held a very long day for the riders as after a 72km road section from Al Duwadimi, they then made their through 484 kilometres against the clock before another 178km on the road leading to the capital city of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh.

Second placed Tosha Schareina has brilliantly ridden a solid and steady rally so far as he continues to shave off time to overall leader Daniel Sanders each day.  Setting off just behind Sanders and Rally 2 rider Edgar Canet, he would be one to watch at the start of the stage as he knew that not only would he have to get past them, but he'd then need to soak up as much of the pressure of being out front as he fought hard to take as much bonus time as he could.

Schareina rose to the task strongly on the mainly dirt track route and hauled in 4'22" of bonuses to finish third, just 2'14" off the leading time set by Luciano Benavides.  After nearly 45 hours of racing, the Spaniard continues to defend his runner up place overall and today gained three and a half minutes on Sanders, with eleven minutes now separating them in the overall standings.

It was Dakar heartbreak though for Pablo Quintanilla as fresh from his third place finish yesterday he got caught out by an edge on an intersection, unable to get on the brakes in time to avoid it.  This threw him off his bike to hit the ground hard leaving him with a concussion and a battered and bruised body, obviously then unable to continue on his 13th attempt at the world's toughest rally-raid.  It was a sad end to his Dakar journey as he'd been consistent throughout the nine days and was seventh in the overall standings when he set off this morning.

Adrien Van Beveren struggled with the navigation early on, an error costing him some vital minutes but that was going to pale into insignificance when he came across Quintanilla.  The famous Dakar camaraderie shone through as with Luciano Benavides they both stopped for 30 minutes to assist his stricken teammate and although it could have upset his rhythm, the Frenchman was unfazed and got back on the pace quickly.  With the stationary time recredited he ended the day just 2'08" off Benavides as he continues to turn around his Dakar Rally charge after some problems during his first week in Saudi Arabia.  He continues to cement his final podium position overall with nine minutes in hand over Benavides behind him in fourth.

Setting off in tenth, Ricky Brabec powered through the time checks on his Honda CRF450 RALLY to head the stage standings for most of the day as he followed the tracks made by the riders ahead.  Although he faded slightly later on he was only 4'21" off the quickest time of day so keeps his current position of fifth overall just eight seconds behind Benavides.

Skyler Howes scraped in under the five minute mark as the Monster Energy Honda HRC freight train swept up positions two through to five on today's stage.  The American rider luckily had no lasting effects from his crash yesterday and although he had a small off this morning, it was a much brighter stage for him with an enjoyable ride through the dunes towards the finish line.

With a brief overnight stop in the capital city of Riyadh, tomorrow's stage nine will see the riders on a slightly shorter 357km against the clock where the organisers have made sure most of it will be on fast tracks meaning this will be a day to really push and gain precious time overall as the monstrous dunes of the Empty Quarter looms on the horizon

Ruben Faria

General Manager

Today was a really long stage to the bivouac at Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. We lost Pablo Quintanilla after the refuelling when he crashed and he did have a concussion so went to hospital for a check up. He didn't break anything which was good and he is already with us at the bivouac. It was a shame as he was riding well inside the top ten, but this is rally, this is racing and it can happen.

We have Adrien in second place today with Tosha behind, then Ricky and Skyler. This was good for us as we are still in the fight, but it's still a long way to Shubaytah. Tomorrow will be a 357km special stage, I don't think it will be difficult but let's see. Daniel Sanders will be starting behind us so let's see how it works out tomorrow.

Pablo Quintanilla  7

Stage: DNF

I'm out of the race today due to a very big crash I had 130 kilometres into the stage. I was on a high speed piste which had many intersections and one of them had a really high edge. I was pushing and saw it at the last minute so I couldn't avoid it. I hit it very very fast and that is the last thing that I remember. When I woke up Adrien was there helping me and it was quite a hard situation because of the pain and also because at that moment I realised that I was out of the race. It's a really sad feeling, we worked a lot for this race, we put a lot of effort, time and energy to do our best and to go out of the race like this is a very bad feeling. Luckily I'm okay, it was just a big concussion, my body is a bit painful but there's nothing broken.

I'm calm and happy because of all the work that I did leading up to this year's Dakar, all the preparation, all the time that I put in, the training, I'm quite proud of it. I'll now go back to Chile to start my recovery so that I'm able to race as soon as possible. As always I will give my 100% to be back stronger.

Ricky Brabec  9

Stage: 4th  Overall: 5th

Today was good, it was a day to make a big push. I did the best that I could do and unfortunately it wasn't enough, but I’m here ready to fight for the next three days. Now I’m going to grab a massage, prepare our stuff for tomorrow and keep fighting.

Skyler Howes  10

Stage: 5th  Overall: 6th

It was a better day that's for sure. I had a bit of a crash in the morning which took a couple of minutes away, I twisted the front end of the bike so I had to stop and twist it back. It was a fast stage, some tricky navigation and some really fun dunes at the finish. I had a good time and I feel much better about today, it’s all positive and I’m looking forward to the last few days.

Adrien Van Beveren  42

Stage: 2nd  Overall: 3rd

In the beginning there was a lot of navigation, I made some mistakes as maybe I was too precise on the caps. I turned around as I lost some time and then in the second part I found Pablo on the floor as he’d had a big crash. I ran over and tried to support him, we called the helicopter and waited with him for quite a long time. I then tried to regroup, to refocus and the stage was OK, it was good.

Tosha Schareina  68

Stage: 3rd  Overall: 2nd

It was another long day at the office, it was pretty good at the beginning and I tried to push to catch Edgar and Daniel. After the refuelling we were riding together until the end. It was pretty good, I tried to push and take that bonus time.

Rally GP Results – Stage 8

Pos.      Rider     Num     Nation Team    Time/Gap

1            Benavides Luciano       1            ARG      KTM Factory Racing Team         04:50:46

2            Van Beveren Adrien      42          FRA       Monster Energy Honda HRC    + 02:08

3            Schareina Tosha            68          SPA       Monster Energy Honda HRC    + 02:14

4            Brabec Ricky    9            USA       Monster Energy Honda HRC    + 04:21

5            Howes Skyler   10          USA       Monster Energy Honda HRC    + 04:59

6            Sanders Daniel                             AUS       KTM Factory Racing Team         + 06:44

7            Cornejo Florimo José Ignacio 11          CHI       Hero Motorsports Team Rally + 07:33

8            Gonçalves Rui 19          POR      Sherco TVS Rally Factory           + 14:13

9            Maré Aaron       6            RSA       Hero Motorsports Team Rally + 14:40

10          Svitko Stefan    142        SLO       Slovnaft Rally Team      + 15:18

Rally GP Provisional Standings after Stage 8

Pos.      Rider     Num     Nation Team    Time/Gap

1            Sanders Daniel                             AUS       KTM Factory Racing Team         44:26:52

2            Schareina Tosha            68          SPA       Monster Energy Honda HRC    + 11:03

3            Van Beveren Adrien      42          FRA       Monster Energy Honda HRC    + 21:31

4            Benavides Luciano       1            ARG      KTM Factory Racing Team         + 30:48

5            Brabec Ricky    9            USA       Monster Energy Honda HRC    + 30:56

6            Howes Skyler   10          USA       Monster Energy Honda HRC    + 37:03

7            Cornejo Florimo José Ignacio 11          CHI       Hero Motorsports Team Rally + 53:32

8            Svitko Stefan    142        SLO       Slovnaft Rally Team      + 01:57:41

9            Gonçalves Rui 19          POR      Sherco TVS Rally Factory           + 02:29:07

10          Santolino Lorenzo         15          SPA       Sherco TVS Rally Factory           + 02:37:06