ANTOFAGASTA, Chile (AP) — Joan Roma of Spain won Monday's eighth stage of the Dakar Rally in the car category with Stephane Peterhansel finishing fourth to keep the overall lead as the rally heads into the final week.
In the motorcycle category, defending champion Marc Coma of Spain won the stage and also took the overall lead from Frenchman Cyril Despres, who got stuck in mud and lost 10 minutes trying to escape the mire.
The 477-kilometer (296-mile) special stage, coming after Sunday's rest day, took riders due north from Copiapo to the coastal city of Antofagasta. The rally ends on Jan. 15 in Lima, Peru.
Roma, driving a Mini, finished in 4 hours, 25 minutes, 44 seconds. He was five seconds ahead of American Robby Gordon in a Hummer and 2:04 ahead of Krzysztof Holowczyc of Poland, also in a Mini. Peterhansel in a Mini was fourth, 5:38 behind the leader.
Coma, on a KTM, won the stage in 5 hours, 3 minutes, 52 seconds. He was 7 minutes in front of Ruben Faria of Portugal, riding a KTM, and 7:10 clear of Portuguese rider Helder Rodrigues on a Yamaha. Despres finished more than nine minutes behind in sixth place and forfeited the lead after getting stuck early in the stage.
"I was lucky not to lose too much time in the mud and then I saw I could open a gap," Coma said. "So I attacked really hard."
Coma leads Despres by 1:26 in the overall standings in what is a two-man race on bikes. Rodrigues is third, more than 49 minutes behind the leader.
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