Stage 8 Al Duwadimi → Ha’il

Another day with a very long special stage

← Stage 7

Stage 9 →

Last updated on January 15, 2024 22:30 UTC

Liaison → 220 km

Special → 458 km

Press releases

Boss Machinery Team de Rooy FPT

The defending champions of last year drove a heavy truck today, started the stage with 900 liter diesel “in its belly”. So climbing the dunes was a bit tough but they still made it through with a good pace.

Climbing the dunes was easier today because our mechanics worked all night to replace lots of worn down parts from yesterday. After the neutralisation of 180km they picked up the pace some more but had a flat tire wich needed to be replaced quickly. Therefore they’ve lost a few minutes in this long stage but still ended up in 4th place.

Because of their maximum effort Boss Machinery Team de Rooy FPT will have a much better starting position in stage 9 of this incredibly rough rally.

Becx Competition Team de Rooy FPT

Michiel Becx, Edwin Kuijpers and Wuf van Ginkel were last at the starting grid today. This long stage contained lots of high dunes with many big up- and downhill racing. They had to conquer a great variety of dunes and could overtake many other trucks and buggies.

With the truck, and especially the front window, back into top condition they avoided the dust with smart driving and navigational skills. Keeping a good pace allowed them to overtake more and more trucks and buggies, later on this day.

The last 110 km in this stage was filled with sharp rocks and this made overtaking harder. With many crossings over dry river beds, the dust started to get in the way and this made overtaking other almost impossible.

Unfortunately, just 15 km before the finish line, they ran a flat tire but lost only 5-6 minutes replacing this. In this last part of the stage there was more and more dust when nearing the finish line. All in all this day holds a great and fast racing experience and the three gentlemen had lots of fun competing. With now a 6th place overall anything can still happen.

Ladies Team de Rooy FPT

The eighth stage of the Dakar Rally was not the stage of Anja van Loon, Floor Maten and Marije van Ettekoven. Even though there were two short sections, the first section seemed to last longer than yesterday’s stage. In the second part things went better for the ladies and they managed to make up some time. On to tomorrow!

Yesterday’s stage was tough for many participants. “There were quite a few complaints about that, but it felt very good to us. The first part this morning felt heavier and longer than yesterday. Fortunately, we managed to get our spirits up for the second part and it went well. We settled in and the speed was good, so we made up some time. It was a tough day.”

Tomorrow the 9th stage is on the program and it goes from Ha’il to Al Ula. The stage is long, with 436 kilometers, but also very fast. It promises to be a mix of many surfaces, but navigation is important on the many paths and intersections that the ladies will encounter.