De Villiers stretches Dakar lead

De Villiers is refusing to count his chickens despite his big lead

South Africa's Giniel De Villiers strengthened his grip on the cars race of the Dakar Rally on Sunday when he won the eighth stage.

De Villiers, driving a Volkswagen, finished ahead of French duo Stephane Peterhansel and Luc Alphand on the 626km stage from Atar to Tichit.

Spaniard Marc Coma won the motorbikes stage ahead of Frenchman Cyril Despres and Pal Anders Ullevalseter of Norway.

Coma leads the overall bikes race with Despres second and David Casteu third.

A 30-minute lead does not mean much - we saw today with Carlos Sainz that problems can be costly really quick Giniel De Villiers

On the toughest day of the event so far, De Villiers' Volkswagen team-mate Carlos Sainz dropped out of contention after suffering power steering problems.

De Villiers, who also won the seventh stage on Friday, finished six and a half minutes ahead of the field to lead Mitsubishi's Peterhansel by half an hour in the overall standings - Spaniard Sainz is now an hour off the front.

But the overall leader is not getting ahead of himself just yet.

"In the overall rankings, a 30-minute lead does not mean much," said De Villiers. "We saw today with Carlos Sainz that problems can be costly really quick."

Monday's ninth stage is from Tichit to Nema in Mali. The 15-stage race began in Lisbon, Portugal, and ends in Dakar, Senegal, on 21 January.

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Stage eight results

Cars:
1. Giniel de Villiers (South Africa), Volkswagen, 7hrs 31mins 52secs
2. Stephane Peterhansel (France), Mitsubishi, 7:38:27
3. Luc Alphand (France), Mitsubishi, 7:41:03
4. Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah (Qatar), BMW, 7:44:01
5. Marc Miller (US), Volkswagen, 7:59:14
6. Jean-Louis Schlesser (France), Schles-Ford-Raid, 8:20:42
7. Carlos Sainz (Spain), Volkswagen, 8:36:04
8. Robby Gordon (US), Hummer, 8:46:36
9. Hiroshi Masuoka (Japan), Mitsubishi, 9:00:55
10. Pacal Thomasse (France), Buggy, 9:18:27

Motorbikes:
1. Marc Coma (Spain), KTM, 7:46:13
2. Cyril Despres (France), KTM, 7:56:15
3. Pal Anders Ullevalseter (Norway), KTM, 8:10:13
4. David Casteu (France), KTM, 8:12:35
5. Frans Verhoeven (Netherlands), KTM, 8:15:29

Leading overall positions

Cars:
1. De Villiers, 27:35:53
2. Peterhansel, +31:13
3. Alphand, +43:04
4. Sainz, +1:05:51
5. Al Attiyah, +1:44:14
6. Schlesser, +2:00:59
7. Miller, +2:18:01
8. Masuoka, +2:40:33
9. Gordon, +6:23:17
10. Thomasse, +6:53:28

Motorbikes:
1. Coma, 30:24:47
2. Despres, 31:19:45
3. Casteu (France), 31:28:02
4. Chris Blais (US), KTM, 31:56:13
5. Ullevalseter, 32:24:53