Peterhansel Wins Eleventh Dakar Title

Stéphane Peterhansel goes back-to-back and now has eleven Dakar Rally victories on his résumé. Peterhansel finished tenth today in the fourteenth and final stage of the 2013 Dakar Rally, only three minutes and forty-three seconds off stage winner Nani Roma, enough to keep his lead in the car class. This was the Frenchman's five Dakar win in the car class. He previously won six in the bike class.

Peterhansel finished forty-two minutes and twenty-two seconds ahead of second in class, Giniel de Villiers of South Africa. Despite four stage victories, Nani Roma could only finish fourth in class, with the Russian Leonid Novistkiy finishing third. American Robby Gordon finished stage fourteen in sixth place and fourteenth in class, five hours, thirty-eight minutes and fifteen seconds off Peterhansel.

In the end Nani Roma won the most stages (four) in the car class, with Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar winning three stages. Al-Attiyah withdrew from this year's race after stage 10. Peterhansel and Gordon each won two stages, while Carlos Sainz, Guerlain Chicherit and Orlando Terranova each won a stage.

The bike class was much closer entering the final day. Stage fourteen winner Ruben Faria was only fourteen minutes and forty-one seconds back of Cyril Despres entering the day but only gained three minutes and fifty-eight seconds on the Frenchman, who won his second consecutive Dakar Rally and fifth overall, all in the bike class. American Kurt Caselli finished thirty-first in the bike class, after receiving a grand total of three hours and thirty-five minutes of penalties, fifteen of which were assessed after stage fourteen. Caselli won two stages and finished six hours, three minutes and forty seconds off Despres. The other American in the bike class, Johnny Campbell finished fortieth in class, eight hours, eleven minutes and forty seconds back. Campbell's best stage finish was stage eight, where he finished in second position.

The other two classes were won by the Argentine Marco Patronelli (quad class), his second Dakar Rally victory and Russian Eduard Nikolaev (truck class), his first victory in the Dakar Rally.