Carlos Sainz claims second Dakar win, first with Peugeot after string of DNF's

Carlos Sainz with co-driver Lucas Cruz took the 2018 Dakar Rally victory on Saturday afternoon after the final Stage 14 in Cordoba, Argentina. This is Sainz's second Dakar win after 2010 with Volkswagen - his first with Peugeot in four attempts.

The Spaniard has had a rough Dakar since 2011. In the seven rallies held between 2013 and 2018, Sainz only has one finish to his name, that coming this year in the form a win. Sainz completed the rally from Peru to Bolivia until Argentina in 44h16m18s.

He was 43m40s ahead of second-placed and longtime rival Nasser Al-Attiyah (with co-driver Matthieu Baumel) in the Toyota, while third place went to Giniel de Villiers (with co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz), also driving the Toyota.

"I’m so, so happy, after four years when we joined forces with Peugeot to make a dual-drive winning car," said Sainz. "We managed to do it. They’ve already won two times, but I think I deserved this victory because we have put lot of effort into this car.

"I had ups and downs, but I always tried my best. Especially this rally, it has been so, so hard. At the beginning I said we'll take it a little bit easier, but Peugeot said we'd have to go flat out. I raced a couple of days and pushed really hard, but then the race was a case of not making mistakes.

"I don’t know if I’ll be back next year. Now I have to enjoy this victory, go back home, speak with my wife, with my family and then we will see. Also, Peugeot won't be here next year so we will see," the 55-year-old added.

The Spaniard endured a difficult run indeed, with only two stage wins (Stage 6 and Stage 7) to his name from the 14, covering nearly 9000km. But once he took the overall lead in Stage 7, there was no looking back.

During the course, Sainz was also involved in a controversial collision with Quad rider Kees Koolen after Stage 7. The organisers awarded a time-penalty of 10 minutes to Sainz, but with Peugeot's appeal, the penalty was taken back with a warning issued to the #303 crew.

Elsewhere, in the bikes category, KTM kept its winning momentum with yet another Dakar victory. The win became all-the-more special with the Austrian manufacturer having an Austrian rider Matthias Walkner on the wheels.

It was the first for Walkner as well in four attempts, after finishing second to teammate San Sunderland last year. "It’s really, really amazing. I was never thinking that I really could win. The goal was to stay on the podium, but it was so close this year and day ten was a key day," he said.

"Maybe luck was on my side this time, but it's really a dream come true. It was a really crazy Dakar. The riding level was so high. There were five other people who could have won it but it looks like I was the lucky one. I was surely a little bit lucky.

"I think that on the Dakar you need a bit of luck on but sometimes you have it and sometimes you don’t have it. This time it was on my side. In 2016 after my bad injury, that changed a lot for me. It's so cool to be back here."

It was a close battle for the win as Honda's Kevin Benavides was only 16m53s behind Walkner, the Argentine coming ever-close to win the Dakar on his home soil. Third went to the 2016 winner, KTM's Toby Price.

Matthias Walkner [Copyright: DPPI/Dakar]

Matthias Walkner [Copyright: DPPI/Dakar]

Meanwhile, the Quads category saw Yamaha's Ignacio Casale dominating to take his second Dakar win after 2014, with Eduard Nikolaev claiming his fourth Dakar win driving the Kamaz in the Trucks category.

Read Also, Sebastian Loeb's retirement: drivetribe.com/p/sebastien-loebs-2018-dakar-journey-KWa0zlRORtu8yBlCTMFTgg?iid=Okl1bc3VQ9qO20S62MyWKA

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