The final stage of Dakar 2017 saw a showdown between Peugeot’s Stephane Peterhansel and Sebastien Loeb. By the end of the stage, Loeb had finished a mere 18 seconds ahead of Peterhansel, but it was not enough to close the five-minute gap set in the previous stages, thus allowing the Frenchman to claim his 13th Dakar victory.
Initially, Loeb had the upper hand in the battle after going full-attack and gaining a three-minute lead on his teammate. Peterhansel was able to then close this gap after Loeb was forced to stop to repair a puncture.
Some 30 minutes behind this drama sat Cyril Despres, who secured the Peugeot 1-2-3. Behind them was Toyota Storm’s Nani Roma And Toyota Gazoo’s Giniel de Villiers, who experienced a steady climb after a dramatic start to the competition.
The overall standings after the final stage are as follows:
- Stephane Peterhansel (Peugeot)
- Sebastien Loeb (Peugeot)
- Cyril Despres (Peugeot)
- Nani Roma (Toyota)
- Giniel De Villiers (Toyota)
- Orlando Terranova (Mini)
- Jakub Przygonski (Mini)
- Romain Dumas (Peugeot)
- Conrad Rautenbach (Toyota)
- Mohammed Abu-Issa (Mini)
