Peterhansel defies desert to win place in history

Skidding to a dust–spraying stop beside the brilliant blue Atlantic off Africa, Stephane Peterhansel of France claimed the 2004 Dakar Rally auto trophy yesterday after six years of trying – and after one of the legendary transcontinental transit's most punishing routes in years.

Peterhansel, a 16–time rally veteran, led a stitched–up, eye–blackened and limping pack into Senegal's capital, Dakar – securing his first victory by car after six rally championships on motorcycles.

"I had to wait six years for this victory. Last time, it was so close," said Peterhansel, with navigator Jean–Paul Cottret, hoisting trophies high as champagne corks popped. "This year, we had our revenge."

The two Frenchmen made the 6,920.4 mile sprint across the bogs, beaches and deserts of two continents and seven nations in 53 hours, 47 minutes and 37 seconds – 18 days after pulling out of France on a snowy New Year's.

The finish was 49 minutes and 24 seconds better than two–time defending champion Hiroshi Masuoka of Japan.

Masuoka took second, plagued by mechanical problems and by navigational difficulties that at one point had Masuoka meeting his Mitsubishi teammate Peterhansel in the desert – with Masuoka going the wrong way.

With his car victory, Peterhansel joins Hubert Auriol in the race's history books by winning both the auto and motorcycle categories.

Celebrating, Peterhansel peeled off the winner's stand and wheeled in a final high–speed victory doughnut. After more than a half–decade trying, the 38–year–old said, the auto trophy had "become like a fetish object for me."

France's Jean–Louis Schlesser came third, 3 hours and 33 seconds behind Peterhansel.

In motorcycles, Joan Roma of Spain won in 55 hours, 56 minutes and 28 seconds. France's Richard Sainct came in second, 12:38 back on his KTM. Compatriate Cyril Despres finished third, 44:31 behind Roma.

The 2004 event marked the 26–year–old rally's return to Dakar, after being pushed north to Cairo in 2003 over security fears.

Such fears remained alive in 2004 – organisers abruptly rerouted competitors away from central Mali mid–race, warned that armed bandits might await competitors there.

After some counsel to hide the US flag on the back of his bike, American Peter Kraus of Irvine, California, said, he decided "to let it ride."

The car, cycle and truck racers at one point faced customs guards at Mauritania who demanded illicit payments, later refunded, to challenge.

But the bigger challenges were exhausting daily stages of more than 1,000 kilometers (hundreds of miles) a times in West Africa's arid Mauritania, twisting through scrub and over rocks. Crashes into trees claimed engines and collar bones.

"It was only three days to the end," famed US Baja racer Larry Rossler said, limping on an ankle that was either sprained or broken in a crash, as he explained why he hadn't quit the race to find out.

"Every kilometer was a test; every kilometer was a problem," Peterhansel said. "You couldn't know the winner until the finish line."

"Compared to this, Cairo was Club Med," said cyclist Mame Ness Diallo, the only Senegalese finisher.

The 2004 rally had started with the highest number of entrants since 1990 – 607 vehicles. When an orange dawn broke on cyclists revving up Sunday in Senegal, only 65 motorcycles, 60 cars and 38 trucks had survived the punishing trek to the final day.

Finishers included not only sponsored professionals with trucks of support teams, but Slovenian army captains, Spanish mailmen, and other men and women from all tracks of life.

Part of the charm was the high numbers of entrants claiming adventure at an age many see themselves as past it. While a blond Pole trailing his country's red and white flag was the youngest entrant, at 21, the bulk Sunday were men in their 40s, with grey in their stubble.

"We all know where we're going in lives – we have our jobs, we have our wives, we have our children," said Steve Hague, a 44–year–old electrical–outfit operator from near Manchester, England, with "Good luck Daddy" written on his cycle. "Now we know you have to do something for our own experience."