Dakar – Stéphane Peterhansel, a historic 11th victory

He did it. Stéphane Peterhansel only had to ensure, on Saturday January 19, to achieve an 11th final victory in the Dakar. With his 45 minutes lead over Giniel De Viliers, his closest pursuer, the Frenchman had little to fear, other than a possible technical problem. Completing this final Chilean event between La Sérena and the capital Santiago in 1:47:53, the driver of the Mini-All 4 racing of the X-Raid team finished the day's stage far from the fastest. But it was enough to make him the big winner of the 2013 Dakar.

With this new success, Stéphane Peterhansel further cements his Dakar legend. After his victories on Mitsubishi in 2004, 2005 and 2007, then that of last year on Mini, he obtained here a fifth victory aboard a car. At the same time, he erases the record that he then co-held with Ari Vatanen, and which had held since 1991, the year of the Finn's fourth and last victory. Five victories to which we must obviously add the six he won on two wheels, from 1991 to 1998, each time aboard a Yamaha. Again, this is a record in this category. As for the 11 victories he has this evening, de facto, no one has ever done better.

But there is still a challenge he could take on. With Hubert Auriol, his compatriot, he is the only one to have won on motorcycles and cars. Could he, one day, become the first to win in three different categories, in trucks for example?

Discover the latest report from our special correspondent on the 2013 Dakar in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, available from Tuesday in digital version for iPad, PC and Mac, and from Wednesday on newsstands.