This weekend marked the end of the 2017 Dakar Rally, a race through three countries that covered a total distance of 8,823 kilometers.
Peugeot is the big winner in the automotive category, as the French brand’s factory team managed to score a hat-trick. The Peugeot Total team managed to finish the race in the top three positions in the category it entered.
The first ranked driver was Stephane Peterhansel, followed by Sebastien Loeb and Cyril Despres. This accomplishment would not have been possible without their respective co-drivers, named J-P Cottret, Daniel Elena, and David Castera.
All of the drivers and co-drivers of the Peugeot Total Team are French nationals, and all of them have a vast experience in the world of motorsport, each of them being known and respected in multiple disciplines.
It is important to note that Peugeot appreciates the work of its support team, which included 88 members, which helped the drivers and the cars stay in top form throughout the 12 legs of the 2017 Dakar.
Peugeot’s crews scored nine out of 10 stage wins, which had a total of 4,093 kilometers out of the entire rally. Sebastien Loeb had the most stage wins in the category, five, and Peterhansel scored three wins. The last crew won overall thanks to a better overall time, as he was ahead of Loeb by five minutes and 13 seconds after Leg 12 of the Dakar.
The race winner’s total time is 28 hours, 49 minutes, and 30 seconds, which is a lot of time to drive in harsh conditions. Not all of the crews entered by Peugeot Total finished the Dakar, as Carlos Sainz had to retire from the race after dramatically crashing the Peugeot 3008 DKR he was driving.
Peugeot is not at its first success in Dakar, as the French brand won this competition for the first time 30 years ago, when Ari Vatanen finished first overall in 1987 with the Peugeot 205 T16 Grand Raid. The French brand scored four other Dakar wins in this time frame, without including this year’s result and the first accomplishment.
Sebastian's love for cars began at a young age. Little did he know that a career would emerge from this passion (and that it would not, sadly, involve being a professional racecar driver). In over fourteen years, he got behind the wheel of several hundred vehicles and in the offices of the most important car publications in his homeland. Full profile
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