Motorcycle rider Sam Sunderland became the first Briton to win the Dakar Rally in any category yesterday while French veteran Stephane Peterhansel won the car crown for his 13th career title.

Dubai-based Sunderland, on a KTM, beat Austrian team-mate Matthias Walkner by 32 minutes after the final 64km competitive stage in Rio Cuarto, Argentina, before the 700km ride to the official finish and podium in Buenos Aires.

Last year’s motorcycle winner, Toby Price, of Australia, retired with a broken leg on the fourth stage. Sunderland had pulled out with mechanical problems in his two previous attempts in 2012 and 2014.

Defending champion Peterhansel, who has won the Dakar six times on bikes and now seven times in cars, beat Peugeot team-mate and compatriot Sebastien Loeb by five minutes. Cyril Despres completed a one-two-three for the manufacturer.

This year’s rally started in Paraguay and ran through Bolivia before finishing in Argentina.

The Dakar Rally began in 1978 as a gruelling race from Paris across the Sahara to the Senegalese capital but switched to South America in 2009 for security reasons.

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