South Africans shine in Dakar Rally 2016, Peterhansel dominates: the motorsport roundup

Another weekend has passed by in 2016 and another spate of news from the world of motorsport we’ve ought to cover. This weekend saw the Dubai 24 Hours, and the aftermath of another riveting Dakar Rally across the Argentinian and Bolivian wilderness.

So, without further ado, here’s your motorsport news roundup.

1. Dakar Rally: Staphane Peterhansel claims 12th Dakar win, de Villiers finishes third

It was a long, arduous and attritional rally raid with any one of the top three Peugeot drivers in the running for the overall win. While Sebastien Loeb hit the road running, Peterhansel often returning blows and Carlos Sainz Sr. following steadily along, it was the veteran Peterhansel who claimed yet another victory. His 12th overall.

It was Peugeot’s first since 1990, and completes a total domination of this year’s rally too. Although 2015 Champion Nasser Al-Attiyah finished second around 30 minutes behind the Frenchman, while South Africa’s Giniel de Villiers claimed third in his Toyota.

South African Leeroy Poulter also claimed fifth spot overall, holding off the likes of Nani Roma, Cyril Despres and ultimately Sebastien Loeb.

2. Dakar Rally: Brian Baragwanath finishes on the quad bike podium, Marcos Patronelli takes overall honours

It was Argentina practically all the way on the smaller four wheeled transport, with the Patronellis claiming a one-two overall win in the segment. However, stern resistance was provided by South Africa’s Brian Baragwanath, who claimed three stage wins, finishing third overall.

It was 26-year-old Baragwanath’s debut Dakar, in which he finished only 1 hour, 41 minutes behind the leader Marcos Patronelli. Overall, a brilliant ride.

3. Dakar Rally: Toby Price rides flawless Dakar, other competitors hit with issues

The bikes class was probably the most hard fought and unpredictable. With Joan Barreda gone early thanks to a nasty tumble, the race was on between Australia’s Toby Price and Portugal’s Paulo Gonçalves. But the latter also had an issue.

Ultimately, Price claimed an impressive overall victory, winning five stages in the process. Slovakia’s Štefan Svitko finished second, while Chile’s Pablo Quintanilla claimed third.

4: Dakar Rally: Netherlands, Spain and Poland thrive in Dakar trucks

The Dutch, Spanish and Polish trio of Gerard de Rooy, Moi Torrallardona and Darek Rodewald, secured a memorable victory in the trucks section, holding out the chasing all-Russian (of Ayrat Mardeev, Aydar Belyaev and Dmitriy Svistunov) and all-Argentinian team (of Federico Villagra, Jorge Perez Companc and Jorge Perez Companc) for second and third respectively.

5. F1: Sauber ‘s new car to miss first F1 test

The first slightly sad news of the 2016 Formula 1 season is upon us, with Sauber announcing that its car will be late, and not feature at the first test of 2016.

While the team will still attend the test, beginning in Barcelona on 22 February, the new car will only make a showing at the second test later. Instead, the team plans to run a modified version of 2015’s car with 2016 livery.

3. MotoGP: Yamaha unveils its new MotoGP bike

Last year’s Champions Yamaha has unveiled its new MotoGP bike, a machine that promises to continue the intense rivalry we’ve seen from the likes of Rossi and Lorenzo. It will be called the Yamaha YZR-M1.

Have a look at the rebroadcast below.

4. 24H Series: Audi wins at Dubai

Audi claimed its first win of the season at the first 24H Series (also known as the International Endurance Series in 2016) event of the season at the Dubai Autodrome. In the 10th running of the event, the WRT Audi A8 LMS driven by Laurens Vanthoor, Stuart Leonard, Michael Meadows and Alain Ferte outlasted the rest of the field generally suffering from the ridiculous conditions of the race.

Think 13 hours of darkness, 30-degree Celsius heat during the day, and 24-hours around the 5.39km track.

5. WRC: Robert Kubica to quit WRC after Monte Carlo Rally

One-time Formula 1 race winner, and crowd favourite Robert Kubica has announced that the 2016 Monte Carlo Rally could be his last, Autosport reports.

The Polish driver won a total of 14 stages in WRC, but has never won an overall event, scoring 40 Championship points in the process. He has however won the WRC2 Series overall back in 2013.

Feature image: Falcon® Photography via Flickr