Carlos Sainz: "This is the hardest rally we have experienced in South America" 21.01.2018: • The 'Matador' won the most extreme rally in the world, which started from Lima, Peru, on January 6. • Drivers showed their skill and dexterity

•    The 'Matador' won the most extreme rally in the world, which started from Lima, Peru, on January 6.


•    Drivers showed their skill and dexterity in the demanding Peruvian route, going from the warm coastal dunes to the Andes and the cold highlands.


•    Fans lived the competition party before and during the race thanks to the Dakar Village and the 'Perú, Mucho Gusto' fairs.




Carlos Sainz, one of the most important drivers of the Dakar Rally, won his second title in the 40th edition of the race. The Spanish driver achieved this in the rally that started from Lima, Peru, on January 6 before the attentive eye of millions of viewers around the world.
 


"The route San Juan de Marcona-San Juan de Marcona was a mixture of very complex dunes of soft sand with falls and rocks. The start was extremely hard, too hard. This is the hardest rally we have experienced in South America", said the driver in one of the bivouacs in Peruvian territory.



On the other hand, Peruvian quad rider, Alexis Hernández, managed to finish in the 5th place in the general standings in his category.  
 
 

 

The race started from Lima towards the dunes of Pisco were more than 30,000 witnessed fans who gathered at the start point from Pentagonito in San Borja, where they paraded the more than 300 vehicles that participated in the five categories of the Dakar. On the other hand, PROMPERÚ organized the Dakar Village where more than 50,000 people could enjoy the Dakar party from January 3 to 5.



Once the race started, the difficult and demanding Peruvian route took over to test the participants. As a result of the difficulty of the road, more than 80 pilots abandoned in the six stages that were run in Peru and among these participants stand out the experienced Nani Roma, Sam Sunderland and Sebastien Loeb.
 


After the race went through Pisco, a city known for its dunes and for giving its name to the national drink of Peru, the rally continued through the port city of San Juan de Marcona. The road in the stage of this city was run between the Pacific Ocean and the endless dunes of the Ica region.



The Arequipa region hosted the Dakar and from there the last stage started before leaving Peru. The Tanaka desert, located in this region, made the drivers live a unique adventure in this race, as their complex dunes are created thanks to the wind that comes from the Pacific Ocean and that collides with the Andes.
 


Finally, before leaving Peru, on the route that departed from Arequipa, the 2018 Dakar passed through the city of Puno on the shores of Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world. Peru said goodbye to the Dakar in a unique edition cataloged by many as the hardest in recent years and compared with those that were run in Africa.
 


 
On the other hand, two fairs were also organized 'Peru, Mucho Gusto' in the cities of Pisco and Puno. In these fairs, where 20 thousand and 40 thousand people attended respectively, visitors could taste the best regional cuisine of Peru. Furthermore, regional dances were performed in the cities where the Dakar was held in southern Peru.


Also, the race was a responsible event with the environment and with the exclusion zones and the cultural and ecological heritage of Peru was respected. To achieve this, the Ministry of Foreign Commerce and Tourism (MINCETUR) created a commission together with the Ministries of Culture, Environment, Education, Interior and Defense for this important task.



For more information about tourist attractions that Lima has visit: www.peru.travel


 

Marcelo Carballar, @ShakedownTeam/PROMPERÚ -  first Red Bull