Estonian duo stay 11th in Dakar Rally despite challenges in Saudi dunes

Estonian rally drivers Urvo Männama and Risto Lepik (Toyota Overdrive) are still in 11th place in the overall standings after stage eight of the ongoing Dakar Rally on Monday.
Despite its name, the desert rally is taking place in Saudi Arabia, as it has done in recent years.
Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings (Toyota GR DKR), who continue as rally leaders and won stage eight as well; the Estonian duo completed the 487-kilometer stage in a time of five hours, ten minutes, and 37 seconds, finishing 18th (+18:43).
In the overall standings, Männama and Lepik held onto 11th place (+2:45:25), but the South African duo Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer (Century), currently in 10th, increased their lead over the Estonians to 34 minutes.
"Today we had another long and proper stage on the menu. The first 250 kilometers went very smoothly," Männama said after Monday's events.
The pair had some issues with backmarkers and with dust, however.
"We caught up with a competitor who wouldn't let us pass, so we had to drive in their dust. Then the leader, Henk Lategan, who is also driving a Toyota, caught up with us, and of course, we let him pass as he's fighting for the win. After that, we were driving in his dust," Männama explained.
"It wasn't too pleasant driving in all that dust. At one point, we got lost and managed to damage a tire. After that, we drove together with Rokas Baciuska and Martin Prokop, so for the last 100 kilometers, we were in a proper dust cloud. Fortunately, nothing else happened, and we are in camp and ready for tomorrow," he concluded.
Lategan and Cummings remain the overall leaders, winning the eighth stage with a time of 4:51:54 and extending their lead over Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk (Toyota Overdrive) to five minutes and 41 seconds.
There are four more stages left in the Dakar Rally, which will culminate on Friday with a 134-kilometer run in Shaybah.
Although the stages will become shorter this week, strategy regarding starting positions will play a major role in and among the sand dunes.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte, Kristjan Kallaste