Sainz wins Dakar Rally
Saturday, 16 January 2010 17:18Spain's two-time world rally champion Carlos Sainz won the Dakar Rally in Buenos Aires on Saturday.
Volkswagen team-mate and closest rival Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar won the final stage, a 335km special from Santa Rosa.
Sainz, world rally champion in 1990 and 1992, had led the race since the fifth stage and clinched two stages on the 32nd running of the gruelling event.
He 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.
Fellow Volkswagen driver Mark Miller, of the US, was 32min 51sec behind Sainz to take third place.
It was Volkswagen's third win in the event following triumphs in 1980 and 2009.
France's Stephane Peterhansel, a three-time champion and six-time winner in the motorcycle section, was fourth in his BMW, 2hr 17min 21sec behind Sainz, while BMW teammate Guerlain Chicherit was fifth.
