“There are still two long days to go”

Dakar 2019 | Stage 8 | San Juan de Marcona > Pisco
January 15 ^th 2019 - 13:51 [GMT -5]

Sam Sunderland started the stage late due to an Iritrack problem and had to ride part of the special in the cars’ dust. It did not stop him from finishing the eighth stage in fourth position, a little more than six minutes behind Walkner, a gap and place identical to the one he occupies in the general standings.

“I arrived at the start and the guy said that my Iritrack was off. I hope we don’t have a problem due to that, because yesterday they said that if something is a modification and you have a problem with it… I don’t know… Anyway, the guys at the start said that the fuse was broken and the quickly fixed it and I managed to avoid staying there for long. Unfortunately, I was in the dust of Peterhansel. But I feel good. I pushed a lot and Cornejo did a really good job of opening up in the dunes area. It wasn’t easy and he did a really good job. There are still two long days to go. [On Brabec] It’s the Dakar you know. Obviously, it's disappointing for him, but I’m sure there are many things that are going to come up in these next two stages”.