KEY POINTS:
DAKAR - Stephane Peterhansel took a record ninth Dakar Rally victory on Sunday while fellow-Frenchman Cyril Despres won the motorcycle title for the second time in three years.
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.
Defending champion, compatriot and team mate Luc Alphand was second overall with Jean-Louis Schlesser rounding off a French triumvirate in a buggy.
South African Giniel de Villiers won the final stage in a Volkswagen. Peterhansel was 51st with 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 win in a row.
The 32-year-old Despres, winner in 2005, inherited the lead on Friday when Spaniard Marc Coma crashed out with victory seemingly assured.
Despres also took no chances in the final stage, finishing only 56th of the 132 starters.
However nothing could dent the KTM rider's lead and he beat compatriot and team mate David Casteu by 34 minutes and 19 seconds overall after two weeks of racing from Lisbon and through the Saharan desert dunes to Senegal.
It was KTM's seventh Dakar win in succession.
- REUTERS
