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Peterhansel wins Paris-to-Cape Town Rally

Over its 13-year history, the Paris-to-Dakar Ra6lly earned a reputation as the world’s most grueling off-road event. Among its many obstacles was a particularly nasty stretch of sand called the Sahara Desert. So what did the race organizers do for 1992?

They made it tougher.

This year, the finish line was moved to the southernmost tip of the African continent, for a total race distance of 7700 miles. Competitors left Rouen, France, a few days before Christmas and arrived at the finish in Cape Town, South Africa, almost a month later.

But in spite of the additional distance, the result was the same: Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel, winner of the 1991 Paris-Dakar, earned the victory in Cape Town.

Peterhansel won the first African stage on his 850cc Team Yamaha Motor France Mobil 1 YZE750T-92, and led the event until he was passed by Italian Alessandro De Petri of Team Yamaha Chesterfield Scout. But when De Petri crashed and broke his collarbone, Peterhansel resumed the lead, never to be headed. Some 200,000 spectators greeted Peterhansel as he arrived at the finish line under Table Mountain on the Cape Town beach.

The key to Peterhansel’s success was experience. “My plan from the start was to lead after the desert section which made up the first part of the rally,” the 26-year-old explained. “After the desert, I knew we would have narrow tracks and a lot of dust through central and southern Africa, and I didn’t want to have to make up time there. I took it easy for the first few days, but then I saw my chance to go ahead and took it.

“The event was harder and longer than the Paris-Dakar and it’s an achievement for myself and my Yamaha team just to get here,” Peterhansel said. “I woke up every morning wondering if I would make it.”

One of those who, sadly, did not make it was Frenchman Gilles Lalay, 29, the 1989 P-D winner. Lalay, a member of Team Yamaha Chesterfield Scout, was killed in a collision with a race organizer’s vehicle in an untimed section entering Pointe Noire in the Congo. At the time of his accident, Lalay was running seventh overall. The Chesterfield Scout team withdrew from the event.

Finishing second was American Danny LaPorte on a Cagiva. The 1982 250cc world motocross champ pressured Peterhansel throughout the race, closing to as little as five minutes behind. But two falls in the Congo jungle resulted in LaPorte finishing 13 minutes behind on the day, and allowed Peterhansel’s advantage to grow to 32 minutes. LaPorte gained a minute or two per day for the remainder of the event, but Peterhansel’s dominance had already been established, and the Frenchman crossed the finish line 24 minutes, 8 seconds ahead.