MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Former world champion Carlos Sainz claims first Dakar rally in Buenos Aires

Argentine Marcos and Alejandro Patronelli won one-two the quad category

Spain’s Carlos Sainz claimed his first Dakar Rally victory after finishing second in the 14th and final stage which ended Sunday in the Argentine capital. The former world rally champion finished the race 2min 12sec ahead of Volkswagen team-mate Nasser al-Attiyah, who won the leg from San Rafael to Buenos Aires.

US Mark Miller finished third overall, 32min 51sec back, to complete a one-two-three for the German manufacturers, who repeated their 2009 success.

Qatari driver Al-Attiyah finished the final stage 36 seconds ahead of Sainz, but it was not enough to prevent the Spaniard, who has led since stage five, from taking the race victory.

“It has been a very important day for me,” Sainz said. “Spain has finally won the Dakar with cars and I'm delighted. I want to thank [co-driver] Lucas [Cruz] for his great work and to all the team, and everybody who put their trust in me. We haven't had any problems, and the car doesn't have a scratch.

”I think we have done a fast but intelligent Dakar. It has been a very hard fight with my team-mate. We knew it would be that way. As I said before, I want to thank everyone who trusted in me.”

BMW pair Stephane Peterhansel, who was fourth in the final stage, and Guerlain Chicherit, who was third, finished fourth and fifth overall respectively.

France's Cyril Despres took victory in the bike class even though he could finish only sixth in the final stage, Ruben Faria of Portugal winning the stage.

Vladimir Chagin of Russia completed a convincing win in the truck category by finishing fourth in the final stage, while Argentina's Marcos Patronelli won the quad class ahead of elder brother Alejandro.

Marcos Patronelli (Yamaha) won the 2010 Dakar in the quad category, 2h22'59 ahead of his older brother Alejandro Patronelli (Yamaha), and 5h 07'31 ahead of Spanish rider Juan Manuel “Pedrega” Gonzalez Corominas (Yamaha).