Buenos Aires: Rally great Carlos Sainz won the Dakar Rally with the closest finish in history on Saturday by tailing his Volkswagen teammate and rival Nasser Al Attiyah on the last fast stage.
Al Attiyah started the 14th stage trailing only Sainz by 2 minutes, 48 seconds overall, and won the 206km sprint from San Rafael to San Carlos de Bolivar. But Sainz was only 36 seconds behind in finishing second.
After 47 hours, 14 stages and two weeks driving the world's toughest auto race through Argentina and Chile, Sainz finally won the Dakar at his fourth attempt by just 2:12.
"Today was a very special, special stage," Sainz said. "I could not afford any mistakes. We had to master everything and control our emotions. But it has been like this for a week."
VW won for the second straight year, and completed a sweep of the podium, with Mark Miller of the United States third overall, 32:51 behind. It had been Sainz, Al Attiyah and Miller in that order since the fifth stage.
Sainz won two stages, Al Attiyah four, and Miller one. At least one VW was on the podium after each stage.
Stephane Peterhansel of France, a three-time car winner in a BMW, was fourth, still more than two hours back, and 2009 champion Giniel de Villiers of South Africa, another VW driver, was seventh.
Disqualified
Cyril Despres of France inevitably won his third motorbike crown. He had led the Dakar since the third stage, and was content to finish sixth on Saturday and still win overall by more than an hour on his KTM.
"I am exhausted. And the little strength I had left just went in tears," Despres said.
Sainz, the two-time world rally champion from Spain, led the 2007 Dakar for four days and led last year's until crashing out with two stages to go. This time, he and navigator Lucas Cruz were patient, fast and mistake-free to win their third successive rally together.
The Spanish pair also won the Dos Sertoes in Brazil last summer and the Silk Way in September.
"A very, very important day for me," Sainz said. "I won in Europe, in Spain, and today in the Dakar. I am really happy and relieved.
Very fast
"We drove very fast, but we were clever, too," he added. "It was a tough and daily fight against my teammate. I knew it would be like that. I fought so hard."
He'd led since the fifth stage and only Al Attiyah threatened to derail his chance. The Qatari, a four-time Olympic shooter who led the Dakar early last year only to be disqualified for skipping part of the trail, shaved what was a 10-minute lead by Sainz on Tuesday, even banging into the Spaniard's car on Friday.
But he ran out of stages.
He won the last in 1:19:42, followed by Sainz then Guerlain Chicherit of France in a BMW, just 43 seconds back.
"This morning I really went for it but we knew the stage would be a long straight line," Al Attiyah said. "I am thrilled I won the stage, I really tried all I could.
"I'm happy for Carlos. He did his job, I tried to do mine. Next year, I'll win."
Has Al Attiyah proved to be one of the best rally drivers in the world? Will this attract more Arabs to take up rallying?
