History was made yesterday in Peru's capital Lima: Stephane Peterhansel celebrated his 10th Dakar win, representing at the same time the MINI ALL4 Racing' and the X-raid Team's first triumph in the grueling event.

Peterhansel's winning margin was just over 40 minutes over his X-raid Mini team-mate Nani Roma. The Spaniard had been much closer before a significant delay in the dunes. Fellow X-raid man Krzysztof Holowczyc was also a victory threat at first, but tumbled down the order with mechanical problems in the middle of the second week.

Leonid Novitskiy made sure X-raid still got three of its Minis in the top four, as he came home fourth behind Giniel de Villiers' Toyota.

The main opposition to the Minis came from the Hummers run by Robby Gordon's team, as both the American and his 2011 Dakar-winning team-mate Nasser Al-Attiyah showed spectacular pace during the event. Ultimately both encountered too many problems to contend for victory, with Al-Attiyah retiring early in the second week, and Gordon dropping back to fifth.

"We finally have achieved our long-awaited goal: our first win in the Dakar Rally," beamed Monster Energy X-raid Team Manager Sven Quandt after Stephane Peterhansel had rolled over the podium. "In this year's Dakar, the MINI ALL4 Racing clearly demonstrated its outstanding potential and reliability."

"We have worked hard and for a long time for this win," said the Stephane Peterhansel who now has got 10 Dakar wins under his belt. "With the MINI ALL4 Racing, we designed a competitive and reliable car. I want to thank the entire team for its hard work and support, both prior to and during the event."

But the success story didn't end with Peterhansel's win, as all the five MINIs ALL4 Racing entered by the team made it to the top 10. Nani Roma (ESP) ad Michel Perin (FRA) impressed by celebrating three special-stage wins and finished runner-up, thus giving the Monster Energy X-raid Team a one-two, in the 2012 Dakar. Meanwhile, Russia's Leonid Novitskiy and his German navigator Andi Schulz demonstrated that consistency is the right approach for being successful. They won the first special stage and afterwards, they successfully avoided getting involved in any major problems. Finishing fourth in the overall rankings represented the well-deserved reward - and the best Dakar result ever secured by a Russian driver in the Dakar's car ranking. In addition, Novitskyi also was the best-place semi-professional driver in the 2012 edition of the event.

Now, the rally vehicles and the service fleet will be shipped back to Germany. In the coming days, a cargo ship will take them back to Europe where they will arrive around mid- to late February.

Peterhansel's Dakar Career

Dakar record winner Peterhansel switched to Team x-raid following the 2009 Dakar. Up to that point in time, Mr. Dakar had celebrated 6 motorbike wins (1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998) and three on four wheels (2004, 2005, 2007), in the legendary event. Now, by his first win in South America, he added triumph No 10 - by delivering in his well-know style. Peterhansel celebrated three special stage wins in this year's Dakar and convinced - as usual - by consistency and a matured style of driving. Thanks to this approach, he avoided getting involved in any major problems and on day three, he took the lead for the second time to defend it until the rally was over.