Jan 15 (Reuters) – French veteran Stephane Peterhansel took a record-extending 14th Dakar Rally victory in Saudi Arabia on Friday and his eighth in the car category.

The 55-year-old X-Raid Mini driver, nicknamed “Mr Dakar” for his unprecedented success, first won the endurance event on a motorcycle in 1991.

Argentine Kevin Benavides, riding a Honda, won the motorcycle category after the 12th and final stage that ended in Jeddah.

The event started in 1978 as a race from Paris to the Senegalese capital, Dakar, but moved from Africa for safety reasons in 2009. It is now held entirely in Saudi Arabia after a stint in South America. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London Editing by Robert Birsel)

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