Peterhansel claims his ninth Dakar Rally title

Published on Monday 22 January 2007 00:52

STEPHANE Peterhansel gained a record ninth Dakar Rally victory and Cyril Despres won the motorcycle title for KTM to make it a French double yesterday.

With more than seven minutes' advantage, the Mitsubishi driver took it easy on the short 15th and final stage around the Lac Rose north of the Senegalese capital to add a third title in the car category to his six victories on two wheels.

Team-mate Luc Alphand, the holder, was second overall while Jean-Louis Schlesser completed a French clean sweep in a buggy.

South African Giniel de Villiers won the final stage in a Volkswagen. Peterhansel was 51st and Alphand 53rd.

The 41-year-old Peterhansel's success, his third in four years as a car driver, came without winning a stage on the two-week event and handed Mitsubishi their seventh victory in a row.

"It was a difficult course this year, extremely stressful. There are races you win easily and those that exhaust you and this was one of the last kind," he said.