Carlos Sainz, Peugeot, Dakar, 2018

Peugeot leaves Dakar with final victory

Weekend Racing Wrap

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Peugeot said farewell to the Dakar rally with its third consecutive victory in the marathon endurance event.

Dakar Rally

Eight years on from his first victory in the Dakar rally Carlos Sainz won the event for the second time. His Peugeot team mates Sebastien Loeb and Stephane Peterhansel both suffered heavy crashes in the course of the 8,000 kilometre event. Peterhansel recovered to finish fourth behind the Toyotas of Nasser Al-Attiyah and Giniel de Villiers.

Toyota Racing Series New Zealand

Races 4-6: Teretonga

Marcus Armstrong remains at the head of the Toyota Racing Series points standings despite a win-less round at Teretonga. He holds an eight-point lead over fellow Ferrari Driver Academy member Robert Shwarzman, who hasn’t won any of the six races so far. Richard Verschoor won the weekend’s opening race before Juan Manuel Correa and Clement Novalak took the other two wins.

Also last weekend

David Schumacher, F4 UAE, Yas Marina, 2018
David Schumacher began his racing career on pole position
David Schumacher, son of Ralf Schuamacher and nephew of seven-times world championship Michael Schumacher, made his car racing debut last weekend in the second round Formula Four United Arab Emirates series. Like round one, the four-race event was held at the Yas Marina Circuit.

The latest name from the Schumacher clan to join the motor racing world started his first race from pole position but lost the lead at the start. He recovered to finish third in the 10-strong field behind Olli Caldwell and Charles Weerts. Caldwell won race two but brake problems struck in race three. In a stroke of fortune, a problem with the Safety Car meant the race had to be red-flagged, giving Caldwell’s team time to effect repairs and rejoin the action. Weerts was victorious and the final race win was taken by Lucas Petersson. Schumacher reached the podium in all four rounds.

The highlights of last week’s Toyota Racing Series rounds can be found here.

Over to you

What racing action did you watch last weekend? How are you coping with the off-season? Let us know in the comments.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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14 comments on “Peugeot leaves Dakar with final victory”

  1. When will this “Dakar in South America” nonsense come to an end?

    1. Bizarre, right? It’s like Rock in Rio Lisbon was.

      1. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
        22nd January 2018, 12:17

        Or the European GP from Baku

        1. And guess where Switzerland, Luxemburg, and San Marino had their GP’s!

          1. It’s not really that uncommon, it happens all the time.
            What’s this obsession with the name though anyway? It’s a race, it’s as good or better than it was. It’s heritage.
            This might really relate to you, but do you know where the capital of the holy roman empire was for the longest time? Germany.

    2. I don’t think they will not return to Africa soon. South America is safer and all the countries pay the ASO for hosting the race.

      1. Cs, I believe that there are people who have continued to race along the old Paris-Dakar route ever since the ASO switched to racing in South America, in part because they were not convinced of the talk of security issues and suggested that the main reason was, as you note in your post, because the ASO is paid much more to hold the race in South America.

        Paat, in the case of the Paris-Dakar rally, the fact that it does not follow the original route, which was chosen because it was meant to be particularly arduous and therefore be a test of the drivers and cars, has taken away something of the original spirit of the event.

        Mind you, the Dakar rally isn’t necessarily as historic an event as you might think – it’s been around for less than 40 years, having started in 1979, whilst the current races have been in South America for less than a decade. Most of the drivers who have won the race are older than the race is, whilst Carlos Sainz has been racing for almost as long as the Dakar has been (he started his career in 1980, so his career is only a year shorter than the entire lifespan of the Dakar rally).

  2. So, is this the point where they switch and Ralf’s son ends up better than Michael’s?

    1. +1

      Was wondering the same.

      1. Me too, indeed @jmwalley and @bradley13; certainly didn’t get off to a bad start, pole and all podium finishes.

  3. Sergey Martyn
    22nd January 2018, 14:32

    C’mon folks!
    KAMAZ-Master – the truck team from Russia won 15 times in 20 years vs 3 times of 8 years of Peugeot.
    What an achievement!

  4. Is it unusual to have such an old driver winning the Dakar?

    1. Not really. Peterhansel, who won in the last 2 years and 13 times in total, is only 3 years younger. I don’t believe the overall cars-class victory has ever been won by anyone under the age of 30, and it’s never been won by a rookie (excluding of course the inaugural event). It’s a race that favors experience, discretion, and judgement. Many drivers can be fast, but completing the whole thing without crashing or breaking the car requires a fine balance of speed and care.

  5. IMHO a Dakar winner should have more credit that it has. No matter that the Dakar brand is no longer linked to Africa, still one, if not the toughest rally raids in the world, so winning it is almost impossible (2 weeks, +8000 km). Just take a look at S. Loeb, best WRC driver ever and failed to finish because of him on his third attempt. Grande Carlos! WRC drivers to me are the greater drivers out there.

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