Sebastien Loeb pleased with progress as penalty mars Silk Way Rally

Despres, a five-time Dakar winner in the motorcycle category, controlled the majority of the epic Moscow-Beijing rally to secure his first win since switching to cars.

Loeb appeared to have slashed Despres' lead from nine to two minutes on the Thursday of the second week, but was ruled to have missed two of the mandatory waypoints.

The nine-time World Rally champion was sure he "can't have been more than 40 metres away" from the checkpoint, but was given a four-hour penalty that dropped him out of contention.

While Despres was free to win the rally by 25 minutes over Yazeed Al Rajhi's X-raid Mini, Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena ended up seventh overall.

"We've calmed down and worked a great deal since the Dakar. Now, after the Silk Way Rally, we feel even more positive," said Loeb, who led much of this year's Dakar on his debut before crashing.

"We completed a high number of kilometres, which means we spent a great deal of time in the car, driving, coping with problems and working together.

"Along with Daniel, our reflexes and the way we communicate together, the way we cope with the pressure, take care of the car and find our pace have improved no end.

"On an event like this it's a two-man job, whereas in the WRC only Daniel has to look after where we are going.

"Here, we sought the right headings together, discussed the wheeltracks we could see ahead of us and helped each other.

"We listened to each other and that's obviously great for our confidence in one another.

"I also think we have digested the mistakes we made in the dunes and our navigational errors so that we won't make them again."

Peugeot's third driver Stephane Peterhansel led briefly in the early days before a substantial accident.

The team repaired the car for him to finish a distant 15th.

Despite his own disappointment, Peterhansel was delighted for Despres.

"Cyril stopped competing on motorcycles just two years ago and here he is already winning on four wheels - a great job," said Peterhansel, who had himself won the Dakar six times on a motorcycle before making the transition to cars and taking a further six victories.

Vladimir Vasilyev completed the Silk Way podium, with Briton Harry Hunt fourth.