Day 9

On January 10, Stage8
Uyuni (Bolivia) - Salta (Argentina)
Liaison: 49km SS: 171km Liaison: 533km Total: 753km

Jan. 10 was the second day of the marathon stage where contestants raced an SS and crossed the border into Argentina on their way from Uyuni, Bolivia to Salta, Argentina. A 492km SS was originally planned for this stage, but organizers have had to make major changes again this day due to the bad weather. While the first part of the rescheduled segment―from their departure from Uyuni on a 49km liaison to the SS start line―remained unchanged from the original, the SS itself was shortened with a finish line set at the 171km point, or CP1 (checkpoint 1). Contestants then took a liaison route to cross the border into Argentina where an SS for the trucks category had been canceled the previous day. As a result, trucks were rerouted to an assistance route which was to take them to the bivouac in Salta. In the 171km SS, contestants raced in highlands at elevations in the 4000m range, and also battled dunes in the first half. Later in the day, the course transitioned to wide-open parallel pistes (areas with numerous parallel unpaved roads) where racers were able to show off their speed, before taking them on mountain roads to the SS finish.