• A total of six stage wins for Peterhansel
• Riamburgo Ximenes consolidates his third position in the overall standings
The Monster Energy X-raid team enters the ‘home straight’ of the Rallye dos Sertões in Brazil as leader. With eight stages raced, French pairing Stéphane Peterhansel /Jean-Paul Cottret and their MINI ALL4 Racingof hold a 24-minute lead over Brazilian Spinelli. While Brazilians Riamburgo Ximenes and Flavio França consolidated their third position, with their BMW X3 CC. The competitors still have to race another two stages, on the way to the finish line in Fortaleza.
After having won the first part of the marathon stage, Peterhansel also prevailed in part two. The navigation in the opening stages of the 277-kilometre stage from Alto Parnaíba to Bom Jesus represented a true challenge and the pairing lost its way several times. Afterwards, however, Peterhansel really took the MINI ALL4 Racing to its limits and in the end, he was five minutes faster than his team-mate Ximenes who finished runner-up, with his BMW X3 CC.
On the following day, the Frenchman continued his streak of success. In the eighth special stage, to Petrolina, Peterhansel celebrated his fourth consecutive special-stage win and extended his lead over Spinelli by another six minutes, thus gaining a truly promising initial position for the final two days of the event. Ximenes also delivered in great style, in the 335-kilometre special stage, by once again securing the second position.
The ninth stage will take the drivers from Petrolina to Iguatu. From there, they will have to race just one more stage – to the finish in Fortaleza.
Overall standings after stage 8:
1st S. Peterhansel (FRA)/J.-P. Cottret (FRA) MINI ALL4 Racing - 23h 23m 27s
2nd G. Spinelli (BRA)/Y. Haddad (BRA) Mitsubishi Lancer - 23h 47m 57s
3rd R. Ximenes (BRA)/F. França (BRA) BMW X3 CC - 24h 29m 34s
4th F. Bibas (BRA)/E. Cavassin (BRA) Evoque Rally - 25h 51m 41s
5th M. Moraes (BRA)/F. Pedroso (BRA) T-Rex – 26h 42m 00s
