2025 Dakar Rally Stage 8: Henk Lategan leads the cars while Luciano Benavides is on pole amongst the bikes

Stage 8 of the 2025 Dakar Rally took the competitors on a 483km timed journey from Al Duwadimi to Riyadh, and this stage was a mix of various terrains demanding alternating speeds – requiring the competitors to stay sharp and focussed throughout. Despite the challenge on hand, Henk Lategan won the stage for Toyota Gazoo Racing, while Luciano Benavides from the Red Bull KTM Factory team dominated in the bikes category with an impressive performance. Here’s a class-wise breakdown of the standings after Stage 8 of the 2025 Dakar Rally.

2025 Dakar Rally bikes

As mentioned above, Red Bull KTM Factory rider Luciano Benavides clocked the fastest time in Stage 8, followed closely by Adrien Van Beveren from the Monster Energy Honda team, who was a little over two minutes off the leader’s pace. Both Benavides and Van Beveren stopped to assist Pablo Quintainilla who suffered from a shoulder injury after 133km, and were recredited with the time spent helping their stricken colleague. Quintanilla exited the rally following his injury. Tosha Schareina from the Monster Energy Honda team completed the podium, hot on the heels of teammate Van Beveren.

2025 Dakar Rally cars

Henk Lategan won the eighth stage of the rally, meaning that the driver from Toyota Gazoo Racing won his second stage of the 2025 Dakar Rally. The podium was completed by his teammate Guy Botterill from Toyota Gazoo Racing, and Mathieu Serradori from the Century Racing Factory team, respectively.

2025 Dakar Rally trucks

When it comes to the trucks category of the 2025 Dakar Rally, Martin Macik from the MM Technology team won the stage with a time of 5:26:52. This was Macik’s fourth stage victory in the rally. Ales Loprais from the Instatrade Loprais team finished the eighth stage of the Dakar Rally in second place, 5 minutes and 22 seconds off the Macik’s pace. Vaidotas Zala from the Skuba Team De Rooy FPT outfit completed the podium in the trucks class by the end of Stage 8, finishing 6 minutes and 25 seconds behind the stage leader.

Indians at the 2025 Dakar Rally

Sanjay Takale, now the sole Indian competitor at the event, is racing in the Classic category with the Compagne Saharienne team. Takale finished the eighth stage of the rally just shy of the top 10, in 11th position. Takale is also the first Indian to take part in a four-wheeler category at the Dakar Rally.

Stage 9 of the Dakar Rally is a fast stage mainly on dirt tracks, and it will cover 357 km of timed specials as the rally heads eastwards from Riyadh to Haradh. With an additional 232 km of liaisons, riders will face a long day ahead, tackling a total distance of 589 km. This stage will favour the competitors who love maintaining high speeds, and the current state of the rally will influence each competitor’s strategy, requiring them to push their machines hard to stay in contention.