Peterhansel claims Dakar car class title - Dakar Rally 2016

The Frenchman crossed the line on Stage 13 in the 13th, 7 minutes and 37 seconds behind the leader Sebastian Loeb who finished the final stage in 1 hour, 46 minutes and 51 seconds. Mikko Hirvonen finished the stage in second, whilst Qatari Nassar Al-Attiyah finished the day in third.

Just two and a half minutes separated the first seven competitors on the final day of racing, indicating how desperate many of the drivers were to chip into Peterhansel’s lead.

Peterhansel managed to hold steady on the final stage of the event, protecting his near hour lead carefully despite his nearest rivals all having horror second weeks at the event.

Loeb ran into numerous incidents, including crashing his car and rolling it on the home stretch of the event. Carlos Sainz was in a good position too until he had to retire from the event on Wednesday, as a spacer between the gearbox and car’s engine broke. Sainz was then towed to finish line.

Peterhansel’s finishing time ended up being 45 hours, 22 minutes and 10 seconds, with Nassar Al-Attiyah’s second place lagging 34 minutes and 58 seconds behind. Giniel De Villiers took third, finishing over an hour behind Peterhansel.

Rounding out the top five for the event was Hirvonen (1 hour, 5 minutes, 18 seconds behind) and Leeroy Poulter (1 hour, 30 minutes, 43 seconds).