Update 9.25: Chris finished in 56th place.

Update 23.09: Tim has finished with a provisional 42th place.

Update 21.32: Tim took off like a rocket. Untill 71.0 kilometers he was around the 20th place. After that he presumably got some problems, because Tim lost some time and is now in 42th place (at the 135.0 kilometer point).

Chris just passed the first checkpoint (117.0 kilometers) in 52th place, so it looks the dunes are treating the McRae’s well.

Here are some extra pictures from Gaby from this special stage.

Update 11.32: Starting times announced!
61 (347) Coronel T. 013h03’00″
65 (369) Leyds C. 013h07’30″

Hopefully both McRae buggies are at the finish, but as far as we know only Tim have reached the finish. Chris was 60 kilometers behind, so we hope to hear from him soon.

On stage 8 both Tim and Chris had a great deal of problems with their McRae’s. Broken clutches and changing 7 tires! Pascal said that the crew had to stop every 15 minutes to service something. Pascal drove into a little canyon, but worked his way out of there.

Last 50 km were an one-man-show for Tim. Alone in the dark through the dunes. A personal victory. Probably explains his happy face above.

For the new stage only 170 kilometer of the 354 kilometer special will be driven, due to heavy fog in the morning. Because of the fog the start is prosponed. Now the stage consist entirely out of dunes.

Dakar.com says:

354 km, but with a timed section of only 170, are on the menu for the 9th stage. Indeed, alerted by the presence over the last few days of significant amounts of fog during the morning at Copiapo, the organisers have announced that they will be postponing the start times for the 9th special stage (11.00, instead of 7.15) and will shorten the route in order to avoid stragglers arriving too late at the bivouac in La Serena. However, this is nothing for the competitors to rejoice about, because as a result the 9th special will be a 100% sandy route, since it will wind its way through the ranges of dunes above Copiapo. Another original aspect of this 9th special stage, the last to be contested in the Atacama Desert, is a side-by-side start for the bikers, in groups of 20…