o-times WRC champion in 90 and 92, Spanish driver Carlos Sainz (VW) will have had to wait for his fourth attempt to finally win the most prestigious of all rally raids. Leader in the general standings since stage 5 and winner of two stages in this 32nd edition, Carlos Sainz wins in 47h10’00, 2’12 only ahead of his teammate Naseer Al-Attiyah (VW), and 32’51 ahead of his other teammate US driver Mark Miller (VW). It is therefore a triple victory for Volkswagen to gets here a third title in the Dakar after winning in 1980 and 2009... Ranking fourth 2h17’21 behind the winner is Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel (BMW), who finishes almost 2h ahead of his teammate and countryman Guerlain Chicherit (BMW), who finishes fifth.
Bike
CYRIL DESPRES WINS THE 2010 DAKAR
The winner of 2 special stages in this 32nd edition and the leader in the general standings since stage 3, Frenchman Cyril Despres (KTM) is the winner of the 2010 Dakar 1h02’52 ahead of Norwegian rider Pal Anders Ullevalseter (KTM), and 1h09’48 ahead of Chilean rider Francisco "Chaleco" Lopez Contardo (Aprilia). The now Andorran resident rider wins the rally raid for the third time after two previous victories in 2005 and 2007 and gives KTM the possibility of joining Yamaha at the top of the number of Dakar final victories with 9 raids won for each of them!
Truck
ONE VICTORY AND MANY RECORDS FOR CHAGIN!
With a final time of 55h04’47, Russia’s Vladimir Chagin (Kamaz) wins the 2010 Dakar in the truck category, 1h13’08 ahead of his teammate and countryman Firdaus Kabirov (Kamaz) and 10h43’20 ahead of Dutchman Marcel Van Vliet (Ginaf)... The "Tsar" gets his sixth victory in a Dakar after winnint the 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2006 editions and catches up with Czech driver Karel Loprais in terms of final victory records. Additional cherry on the cake, with 9 new stage victories this year in special stages, Chagin becomes the absolute stage victory record holder in the Dakar with a total of 56 stages won, i.e. one more than French driver Stéphane Peterhansel... 9 stage victories in this 32nd edition that allow the Russian to also establish a record of number of truck stage victories in the same edition of a Dakar. Finally, this victory by Chagin is also the ninth victory of Kamaz in a Dakar, another record; the team from Tatarstan has - by the way - also won ALL the special stages of this 32nd edition.
Quad
MARCOS PATRONELLI WINS THE QUAD RAIDAfter finishing second in 2009, Argentine rider Marcos Patronelli (Yamaha) wins the 2010 Dakar in the quad category finishing 2h22’59 ahead of his older brother Alejandro patronelli (Yamaha), and 5h 07’31 ahead of Spain’s Juan Manuel "Pedrega" Gonzalez Corominas (Yamaha). Frenchman Christophe Declerck (Polaris) stays in fourth place in the final standings 4’12 ahead of Polish rider Rafal Sonik (Yamaha).
