Stéphane Peterhansel proclaimed winner of the Dakar Rally 2016, Sébastien Loeb wins the stage ahead of Hirvonen and Al-Attiyah
Stéphane Peterhansel, “Mr. Dakar” gets its sixth Dakar in the four wheels category and with this already 12 rally victories in both bikes as in cars. If someone had doubts of the Peugeot was wrong. Predicted a difficult and hard rally but also the three major brands have fought to the end and only have to look at the general classification. The first three positions are for three different cars, Peugeot, Mini and Toyota respectively.
Today’s stage took us to the precious Rosario with 180 km of special. The only struggle was for the remarkable third position of the overall that with the victory yesterday of Hirvonen (Mini) it complicated the situation to Giniel De Villiers (Toyota). Today we have been able to see a aggressive Hirvonen , attacking in order to achieve this podium position in its debut year but finally that has not been and must comply with a magnificent fourth place.
The stage victory has led another newcomer, Sébastien Loeb, who made a spectacular first part of the rally but in the stages where the navigation was tougher has suffered a lot. Today removed that bittersweet taste with the stage victory and the ninth position in the general classification.
Another pilot that has given us emotion at the end of the Dakar Rally has been Nasser Al-Attiyah that although without many options to win has made the final stages really fast. It should be noted that today has finished third in the stage that consolidating the subchampionship.
Finally, a lot of bad luck for the spanish drivers, both Nani Roma and Carlos Sainz. The latter due to a mechanical problem that made him leave and the catalan of Mini with many problems has finished regaining lost ground in the first part of the rally ending in a really good 6th position of the overall.