Colin McRae drove impressively to win two stages on his debut and was 20th overall after being hit by mechanical dramas

McRae's problems started when he got stuck on a sand dune on the eighth stage

Winner Peterhansel and team-mate Masuoka are feted as they drive along the beach in Dakar

The motorcycle section was won by a Spaniard for the first time, Nani Roma, here checking his bike out in the Mauritanian Sahara

Japanese Mitsubishi driver Hishiro Masuoka and VW's German star Jutta Kleinschmidt steer past the elephant rock in Mauritania

A competitor speeds past a village between Bobo-Dioulasso in Burkina Faso and Bamako in Mali

David Fretigne blasts through an oasis in Mauritania

Luc Alphand guides his BMW X5 over the Saharan dunes

Cyril Desprez guides his KTM past an ass on his way through Mauritania

Former Grand Prix driver Jean-Louis Schlesser passes a village in Mali

Fabrizio Meoni has no time to look at the desert scenery on the ninth stage in Mauritania

Stephane Peterhansel celebrates becoming only the second man to win both the car and bike sections of the Dakar Rally

Last year's winner Hiroshi Masuoka led the rally after the sixth stage