Sainz and Despres secure Dakar victoriesSpain's two-time World Rally champion Carlos Sainz won the 2010 Dakar Rally driving a Volkswagen, while in the motorbike category Frenchman Cyril Despres secured his third Dakar title as the race finished in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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Volkswagen teammate and closest rival Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar won the final stage, a 335km special from Santa Rosa, but it wasn't enough to bridge the gap to Sainz.
World Rally champion in 1990 and 1992, Sainz had led the race since the fifth stage and clinched two stages on the 32nd running of the gruelling event.
"A very, very important day for me. I won in Europe, in Spain and today in the Dakar. I am really happy and relieved," said Sainz.
"It was a tough and daily fight against my teammate. I knew it would be like that. I fought so hard. Today was a very special, special stage. I could not afford any mistake.
"We had to master everything and control our emotions. But it has been like this for a week!"
The Spaniard finished 2min 12sec ahead of Al-Attiyah with whom he angrily clashed on Friday's penultimate stage when he accused the Qatari of unsporting behaviour when he passed the Spaniard.
"It's okay. I'm pretty happy. This second place is a good result for me. I never got this high in the standings," Al-Attiyah said.
"What matters is that a Volkswagen won. I am happy for Carlos. He did his job. I tried to do mine.
"Next year, I'll win. But now I'll go shake hands with Carlos; he's part of the team."
Fellow Volkswagen driver Mark Miller of the USA, was 32min 51sec behind Sainz to take third place.
It was Volkswagen's third win in the event following triumphs in 1980 and 2009.
POS No. Name Make/Model Time Variation
1 303 Carlos Sainz Race Tou 47:10:00
2 306 Nasser Saleh Al-attiyah Race Tou 47:12:12 0:02:12
3 305 Mark Miller Race Tou 47:42:51 0:32:51
4 301 Stéphane Peterhansel X3 CC 49:27:21 2:17:21
5 307 Guerlain Chicherit X3 CC 51:12:49 4:02:49
6 314 Carlos Sousa RACING L 51:41:45 4:31:45
7 300 Giniel De Villiers Race Tou 52:20:19 5:10:19
8 302 Robby Gordon H3 53:12:24 6:02:24
9 311 Orlando Terranova RACING L 53:14:47 6:04:47
10 322 Guilherme Spinelli RACING L 53:23:41 6:13:41
Despres takes third titleIn the motorbike category, Frenchman Despres won his third Dakar Rally title after the 14th and final stage, which was won by Portuguese rider Ruben Faria.
"All victories are nice but this one is particularly beautiful. It is the victory of hard work, of expertise and of an incredible team," said Despres.
"There are nine of us in the team and not one of us ever let go. We all wanted to win; we all wanted to fight hard and we won. It's just fantastic.
"I just wanted to win. And this will to win was stronger than the fear of losing. It was a tough Dakar, a beautiful Dakar and I am so glad I won."
Norwegian Pal Ullevalseter finished second overall, over an hour behind Despres, after finishing second on his KTM in the stage, 3min 45sec behind Faria.
Chilean Francisco Lopez riding an Aprilia was third overall, less than five minutes behind the runner-up.
POS No. Name Make/Model Time Variation Penalty
1 2 Cyril Despres 690 Rall 51:10:37
2 4 Pal Anders Ullevalseter 690 52:13:29 1:02:52
3 9 Francisco Lopez Contardo RXV450 52:20:25 1:09:48
4 5 Helder Rodrigues WR 450F 52:30:10 1:19:33
5 12 David Fretigne 450 WRF 53:06:33 1:55:56
6 14 Alain Duclos 690 53:09:12 1:58:35
7 24 Jonah Street 690 54:00:20 2:49:43 0:02:00
8 11 Jakub Przygonski 660 RALL 54:26:36 3:15:59
9 16 Olivier Pain 450 WRF 54:38:57 3:28:20
10 34 Juan Pedrero Garcia 690 54:44:25 3:33:48 0:02:00
Courtesy:
http://www.sbs.com.au
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