AL DUWADIMI, Saudi Arabia — Argentine Luciano Benavides was a big mover during Monday’s Dakar Rally Stage Eight as he won by over two minutes, while also stopping to check on Pablo Quintanilla who crashed 133km into the stage.
Thankfully, after calling for medical assistance, the Chilean’s injuries did not appear too serious and Benavides was given the time back.
“I was riding with Adrien (Van Beveren) and we saw Pablo on the ground, so immediately we called the helicopter,” Benavides said. “We stayed with Pablo for 30 minutes. It looks like he has nothing broken, but he does have a concussion.”
With the route to Saudi Arabia’s capital city of Riyadh featuring a timed special stage of over 480 kilometers, Benavides now moves up to fourth overall 30 minutes, 48 seconds behind bike leader Daniel Sanders with Spanish rookie Edgar Canet – the latest recruit to Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – leading the Rally2 category by 31 minutes, 11 seconds from Austrian rider Tobias Ebster.
“I started second and, after 90km, we caught Daniel and Tosha (Schareina) also joined us,” Ebster said. “We then spent the rest of the day riding as a group and making good navigation all the way.”
In the Challenger class, Spaniard Pau Navarro earned his first 2025 Dakar stage win at the wheel of his Taurus T3 Max to move 1hr40m35s behind class leader Nicolas Cavigliasso. With Portuguese driver Gonçalo Guerreiro sitting 25 minutes, 49 seconds behind Cavigliasso.
“We talked before the stage and decided to go for the win today,” Navarro said. “It was a different strategy for us, and we pushed and pushed and pushed.”
In the Ultimate class, Swede Mattias Ekström’s bid to cut the gap further to leader Henk Lategan was hamstrung by a long stretch of opening the road in his Ford Raptor T1+ that leaves him 28m55s back now.
“We were opening from 50km to 350km and that was difficult,” the former two-time DTM champion said. “I’m doing everything I can and the plan is to keep doing on that for four more stages.”
Five-time winner Nasser Al-Attiyah and Stage Seven victor Lucas Moraes also struggled, while Belgian Guillaume De Mévius suffered an early stoppage in his MINI during a difficult day that saw him concede over three hours.
“It was a really tough stage for us,” De Mévius said. “We got a technical problem after 100km of the stage, so we had to stop to repair it.
“After that, we were in the dust of everybody and we only had traction from the front wheels. In the dunes that was tough.”
In the SSV class, Francisco “Chaleco” López lies over two hours back from leader Brock Heger.
“It was a tricky start for us,” López said. “An early puncture and the first 100km all in the dust. So much traffic at the beginning, but the final kilometers on the dunes were fun.”
A relatively short hop from Riyadh to Haradh awaits on Tuesday’s Stage Nine, with a timed section measuring 357km, as starting positions become crucial in the final Empty Quarter desert stages.
