Stage 8’s final results don’t quite line up with Dakar's general standings as the top three spots were claimed by drivers fighting it out in the lower part of the top 10.

Despite getting stuck in sand for the first eight minutes of the stage, Mathieu Serradori claimed the win on the day, beating the likes of Carlos Sainz, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Stephane Peterhansel. Fernando Alonso, meanwhile, claimed second place on the stage, his best result of Dakar thus far.

Other surprise performances on this stage came from Erik van Loon (Overdrive Toyota) and Nani Roma (Borgward). Suffering a blow to his impressive 2020 record was Carlos Sainz, who ended the stage in 15th place. Nasser Al-Attiyah wasn't far far ahead in 11th. Despite this turn of events, the overall standings remain largely unchanged, although the gap between Sainz and Al-Attiyah now sits at six minutes and 40 seconds.

Despite his impressive performance, Serradori is still in seventh spot, behind Giniel de Villiers (who finished the stage in fourth). Alonso has climbed to 13th place.

Stage 8 results:

1. Serradori (SRT)
2. Alonso (Toyota): +04:04
3. Terranova (Mini): +06:19
4. De Villiers (Toyota): +06:29
5. Al Rajhi (Toyota): +07:16
6. Przygonski (Mini): +09:29
7. Ten Brinke (Toyota): +10:19
8. Van Loon (Toyota): 12:41
9. Peterhansel (Mini): 13:11
10. Roma (Borgward): +14:33

Overall standings:

1. Sainz (Mini)
2. Al-Attiyah (Toyota): +06:40
3. Peterhansel (Mini): +13:09
4. Al Rajhi (Toyota): +32:25
5. Terranova (Mini): +43:02
6. De Villiers (Toyota): +53:12
7. Serradori (SRT): +01:02:42
8. Ten Brinke (Toyota): +01:07:00
9. Seaidan (Mini): +02:37:18
10. Han (Geely): +03:06:20

Original article from Car