Dakar: Peterhansel wins

"I was very nervous this morning," said Peterhansel. "It was only a small stage, but it is never easy and anything can and sometimes does happen.

"This was a big victory for me. It was harder than last year. The race was difficult and the difference between myself and Luc [Alphand] was much smaller than my winning margin last year. That shows that it was a great race right to the end."

Peterhansel has dominated the event since Colin McRae, who was leading at the time, was sidelined by a huge crash in his Nissan Pickup on the sixth day. A number of other pretenders, including NASCAR star Robby Gordon and rally legend Ari Vatanen, also hit trouble after setting some impressive stage times.

Alphand capped a stellar result for Mitsubishi by bringing his Pajero Evolution home in the runner-up spot. In the 27-year history of the Dakar event no manufacturer of cars, bikes and trucks can match the Japanese company's winning record.

Jutta Kleinschmidt finished third in the Volkswagen Touareg, while Giniel de Villiers (Nissan Pickup) and Bruno Saby (VW Touareg) rounded out the top five. Saby upheld Volkswagen's honour by taking the final stage win on the short 31km leg ending in the Senegalese capital.



Peterhansel/Cottret (Mitsubishi V60), 52h31m39s
Alphand/Picard (Mitsubishi Pajero Evo), 52h58m53s
Kleinschmidt/Pons (VW Touareg), 55h53m39s
de Villiers/Lurquin (Nissan Pickup), 56h34m15s
Saby/Perin (VW Touareg), 61h15m53s
Roma/Magne (Mitsubishi Pajero Evo), 61h51m16s
Sousa/Delli-Zotti (Nissan Pickup), 62h34m08s
Magnaldi/Forthomme (Honda Evo 3), 63h35m23s
Monterde/Tornabell (BMW X5), 65h59m10s
Dalmau/Oller (Tot Curses JLA2), 71h48m32s