Dakar 2016: Stephane Peterhansel claims 12th Dakar win
The 2016 Dakar Rally came to an end today with Stephane Peterhansel winning the car category in his 2008 DKR Peugeot with an overall time of 45:22:10. Although this is Peterhansel's 12th Dakar win since 1991, this is Peugeot's first one since 1990. Nasser Al-Attiyah put up a good fight, finishing second in his Mini around 35 minutes behind Peterhansel. South African, Giniel De Villiers from Toyota Gazoo Racing finished third, just over an hour behind the leader in his Toyota Hilux. WRC legend, Sebastien Loeb meanwhile, came in ninth despite being the fastest driver in Stage 13. Loeb was leading the scoreboard up until he crashed 20km ahead of the Stage 8 finish.
Toby Price took first place in the motorcycle category on his KTM 450 with a time of 48:09.15s. Price had claimed third place in his first attempt at the Dakar just last year. He was followed by Stefan Svitko, also on a KTM 450, with an overall time of 48:48:56 seconds. Coming in third was Pablo Quintanilla from Chile on his 450 Rally Husqvarna. CS Santosh, who was hoping to finish the Dakar for the second time, was out after Stage 4 when the Suzuki 450 Rally's navigation tower broke and its electricals malfunctioned.
In the truck category, Gerard De Rooy finished first with a time of 44:42.2s in his Powerstar Iveco. Following 1:10.27s behind was Airat Mardeev in the 4326 Kamaz. Federico Villagra, also in a Powerstar Iveco truck, finished third with an overall time of 46:22:58s.
Marcos Patronelli took his third Dakar win clocking in 58:47:41s on his Watriciclo Yamaha quad. His brother, Alejandro Patronelli, finished a close second, just 5:23s behind Marcos. Brian Baragwanath came in third with 60:29:34s on the clock.