After unexpected weather conditions wreaked havoc on stage eight on Saturday, the brave and weary competitors tackling the 2013 Dakar Rally were treated to a well deserved rest day in Argentina on Sunday.

Heavy rain caused stage eight to be shortened before proceedings got underway and, as conditions worsened during the day,

organisers took the unusual step of red-flagging the race at checkpoint two.

Only five riders were able to make it to the finish line before the red flags came out. At the rest area in Tucuman, the teams

were finally able to carry out significant repairs on their battered machinery, regroup and reassess their game plans as they were allowed a 24-hour respite from competition.

139 motorcycles, 26 quads, 106 cars and 64 trucks made it through the first eight stages to the rest day in Tucuman, representing nearly 75% of the vehicles which started the rally in Lima.

Defending champ Stephane Peterhansel leads the cars with China's Zhou Yong sitting in 22nd. David Casteu leads the overall bike classification. Marcos Patronelli tops the standings in the quad category and Gerard de Rooy in the trucks.

Stephane Peterhansel (Car Category Overall Leader)said, "The reason I am faster than Nasser Al-Attiyah is because he made many mistakes, and wasted too much time. I wish there were some narrow stages with more challenge next."

David Casteu,(Car Category Overall Leader) "I have participated in the Dakar Rally ten times and I was the runner-up in 2007. It is really amazing that I am the overall leader on the rest day."

Stage nine gets underway on Monday and take the field from San Miguel de Tucuman to bustling Cordoba.

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