By : Valentin Khorounzhiy
Peugeot’s Stephane Peterhansel delivered back-to-back Dakar Rally victories for the French manufacturer as he saw off WRC legend Sebastien Loeb for his 13th win in the event. Peterhansel, nicknamed “Mr. Dakar” as the rally’s most successful competitor ever, now has seven wins in the car category to his six bike triumphs.
The basis for his 13th Dakar win came largely in Thursday’s Chilecito–San Juan stage, as he emerged with a lead of six minutes over Loeb after being given back time following his incident with biker Simon Marcic.
A spirited challenge from Loeb during Friday’s San Juan–Rio Cuarto run was for naught, and although the WRC legend won the final stage – his fifth of the event – it was only by 19 seconds.
It meant Peterhansel took the line with a final winning margin of 5m13s over his teammate.
While Peugeot had only had Peterhansel on the podium of its four drivers in 2016, the French manufacturer locked out the top three this time, with former Dakar bikes star Cyril Despres following Peterhansel and Loeb home, 33 minutes off the lead.
Nani Roma was best of the rest for Toyota in fourth, more than an hour down on Peterhansel, while fellow Toyota driver Giniel de Villiers pipped the leading X-Raid Mini entry of Orlando Terranova to fifth place.
Kuba Przygonski (Mini), WEC champion Romain Dumas (Peugeot), Conrad Rautenbach (Toyota) and Mohammed Abu-Issa (Mini) completed the top 10.
After losing significant time after a collision with a truck on Thursday, Mikko Hirvonen (Mini) was set to finish the event in 13th, six hours down on Peterhansel.
Final cars standings (top 10):
| Pos. | Driver/Navigator | Car | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Stephane Peterhansel
|
Peugeot | 28h49m30s |
| 2 | Sebastien Loeb
|
Peugeot | +5m13s |
| 3 | Cyril Despres
|
Peugeot | +33m28s |
| 4 |  Nani Roma
|
Toyota | +1h16m43s |
| 5 |  Giniel de Villiers
|
Toyota | +1h49m48s |
| 6 |  Orlando Terranova
|
Mini | +1h52m31s |
| 7 |  Kuba Przygonski
|
Mini | +4h14m47s |
| 8 | Romain Dumas
|
Peugeot | +4h21m01s |
| 9 |  Conrad Rautenbach
|
Toyota | +4h40m13s |
| 10 |  Mohammed Abu-Issa
|
Daniel Elena
Dirk von Zitzewitz
Tom Colsoul