South African veteran rally driver Giniel de Villiers took full advantage of long time leader Carlos Sainz’s 12th stage crash to lead the first ever Dakar Rally to be held in South America home in Buenos Aires at the weekend.
Another previous winner, Spain’s Marc Coma, finished well clear of his rivals in the motorbike section where Portuguese Lagos Team rider Helder Rodrigues occupied an excellent fifth place after claiming the 14th and last stage of the epic race.
Whereas French organiser Etienne Lavigne does not propose to repeat the Chile-Argentina adventure in 2010, a return to Lisbon and the Algarve is not yet envisaged either- instead Angola and Namibia or Tunisia, Libya and Egypt have been placed on the agenda.
