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Rally legend Carlos Sainz has scored his second Dakar victory in the 2018 edition of the event.

Two-time World Rally champion Sainz had not finished any of the prior three Dakars he had contested as a Peugeot works driver, yet 2018 proved fourth time lucky for the Spaniard.

Having survived a high-attrition opening leg in Peru, Sainz emerged as rally leader courtesy of back-to-back stage wins either side of the mid-rally rest day in Bolivian capital La Paz.

These would be his only stage wins of the event, but his path to overall victory over the rest of the rally was relatively smooth - aside from a controversial penalty for an alleged incident with a quad rider that was ultimately rescinded.

Sainz was three minutes off the pace in the final stage of this year's Dakar, reaching the finish with a 44-minute lead over nearest rival Nasser Al-Attiyah in the overall standings.

His triumph means Peugeot's works team bows out of the Dakar with three wins in four attempts, its drivers having topped 25 stages from a total of 48.

Saturday's test - a 120km loop near Cordoba in Argentina - was topped by Toyota's Giniel de Villiers.

The South African was 40 seconds quicker than nearest rival Stephane Peterhansel, and joined team-mate Al-Attiyah on the overall podium.

X-raid Mini's highest-placed driver Jakub Przygonski was over an hour behind Peterhansel in fifth, while privateer Peugeot entrant Khalid Al Qassimi and WRC regular Martin Prokop finished sixth and seventh respectively.

Final stage result

Pos Driver Team Car Gap 1 Giniel de Villiers Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa Toyota 1h26m29.s 2 Stephane Peterhansel Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 40.s 3 Nasser Al-Attiyah Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa Toyota 41.s 4 Lucio Ezequiel Alvarez Overdrive Toyota Toyota 43.s 5 Peter van Merksteijn Overdrive Toyota Toyota 2m06.s 6 Jakub Przygonski X-Raid Team Mini/BMW 2m11.s 7 Martin Prokop MP Sports Ford 2m13.s 8 Sebastian Halpern South Racing Toyota 2m25.s 9 Carlos Sainz Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 3m19.s 10 Khalid Al-Qassimi PH-Sport Peugeot 3m37.s

Dakar 2018 standings

Pos Driver Team Car Gap 1 Carlos Sainz Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 49h16m18.s 2 Nasser Al-Attiyah Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa Toyota 43m40.s 3 Giniel de Villiers Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa Toyota 1h16m41.s 4 Stephane Peterhansel Team Peugeot Total Peugeot 1h25m29.s 5 Jakub Przygonski X-Raid Team Mini/BMW 2h45m24.s 6 Khalid Al-Qassimi PH-Sport Peugeot 4h20m58.s 7 Martin Prokop MP Sports Ford 7h20m49.s 8 Peter van Merksteijn Overdrive Toyota Toyota 7h41m28.s 9 Sebastian Halpern South Racing Toyota 9h08m10.s 10 Lucio Ezequiel Alvarez Overdrive Toyota Toyota 9h18m46.s



