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With 475 vehicles in the race at the start (232 bikes, 174 cars and 69 trucks, a total of 775 people), the 2006 Dakar registered a record participation. Eventually, 93 bikers, 66 cars and 35 trucks managed to finish the 28th Dakar, Luc Alphand in a car and Marc Coma on two-wheels both clinching their first ever overall successes. Vladimir Chagin, behind the steering-wheel of his Kamaz truck, claimed his fifth crown.

Year	Motorbike	Car	Truck
2006	Coma (KTM)	Alphand/Picard (MIT)	Tchaguine/Yakoubov/Savostine (KAM)
2005	Despres (KTM)	Peterhansel/Cottret (MIT)	Kabirov/Belyaev/Mokeev (KAM)
2004	Roma (KTM)	Peterhansel/Cottret (MIT)	Tchaguine/Yakoubov/Savostine (KAM)
2003	Sainct (KTM)	Masuoka/Schulz (MIT)	Tchaguine/Yakoubov/Savostine (KAM)
2002	Meoni (KTM)	Masuoka/Maimon (MIT)	Tchaguine/Mardeev/Savostine (KAM)
2001	Meoni (KTM)	Kleinschmidt/Schulz (MIT)	Loprais/Kalina (TAT)
2000	Sainct (BMW)	Schlesser/Magne (SCH)	Tchaguine/Yakoubov/Savostine (KAM)
1999	Sainct (BMW)	Schlesser/Monnet (SCH)	Loprais/Kalina/Stachura (TAT)
1998	Peterhansel (YAM)	Fontenay/Picard (MIT)	Loprais/Stachura/Cermak (TAT)
1997	Peterhansel (YAM)	Shinozuka/Magne (MIT)	Reif/Deinhofer (HIN)
1996	Orioli (YAM)	Lartigue/Prin (CIT)	Moskovskikh/Kouzmine (KAM)
1995	Peterhansel (YAM)	Lartigue/Prin (CIT)	Loprais/Kalina/Stachura (TAT)
1994	Orioli (CAG)	Lartigue/Prin (CIT)	Loprais/Kalina/Stachura (TAT)
1993	Peterhansel (YAM)	Saby/Serieys (MIT)	Perlini/Albieio/Vinante (PER)
1992	Peterhansel (YAM)	Auriol/Monnet (MIT)	Perlini/Albieio/Vinante (PER)
1991	Peterhansel (YAM)	Vatanen/Berglund (PEU)	Houssat/De Saulieu/Bottaro (FRA)
1990	Orioli (CAG)	Vatanen/Berglund (PEU)	Villa/Delfino/Vinante (PER)
1989	Lalay (HON)	Vatanen/Berglund (PEU)
1988	Orioli (HON)	Kankkunen/Piironen (PEU)	Loprais/Stachura/Ingmuck (TAT)
1987	Neveu (HON)	Vatanen/Giroux (PEU)	De Rooy/Geusens/Van (DAF)
1986	Neveu (HON)	Metge/Lemoyne (POR)	Vismara/Minelli (MER)
1985	Rahier (BMW)	Zaniroli/Da Silva (MIT)	Capito/Capito (MER)
1984	Rahier (BMW)	Metge/Lemoyne (POR)	Lalleu/Durce (MER)
1983	Auriol (BMW)	Ickx/Brasseur (MER)	Groine/De Saulieu/Malferiol (MER)
1982	Neveu (HON)	Marreau/Marreau (REN)	Groine/De Saulieu/Malferiol (MER)
1981	Auriol (BMW)	Metge/Giroux (RAN)	Villette/gabrielle/Voillerau (ALM)
1980	Neveu (YAM)	Kotulinsky/Luffelman (VW)	Ataquat/Boukrif/Kaola (SON)
1979	Neveu (YAM)

One man is better than the rest. The Dakar history book reveals to whoever wants to read it, the domination of one man on the event: Stéphane Peterhansel. A six-time winner on a bike, the Frenchman has added two titles to his collection after switching to four wheels. Before him, among the men who have written the Dakar legend, only Hubert Auriol, known as "the African", had won the rally in two different categories, with a total of three crowns. The bike fanatics certainly also have in mind the likes of Cyril Neveu, winner of the first two Dakars behind the handle-bars of his Yamaha 500 XT, and then three other editions on a Honda. Richard Sainct (3 victories) and Fabrizio Meoni (2 victories), who were both victims of their passion for the desert in the same period of time, have also a privileged place in the memories of the rally.

The days of Ari Vatanen and precisely his four victories behind the steering-wheel of a 205 and then 405 Peugeot, has made the Finn into an icon of the rally. A WRC champion in 1982, Vatanen made the most of his aggressive driving on rally-raid events. It was on circuits, including Formula one tracks, that Jean-Louis Schlesser learned his driving skills. In his very own blue buggies, the Frenchman won the event twice but never managed to catch up with the most impressive of the pioneers, René Metge, winner of three editions. Jutta Kleinschmidt, who, like many others, had a first taste of the Dakar riding a bike as an amateur, remains today the only woman to have won the event and that was in a car in 2001.

In the truck category, the current domination of the Kamaz trucks with their leader Vladimir Tchaguine (5 victories) appears to be a chase for Karel Loprais’ record. Indeed the Czech driver has the most impressive CV: Six Dakar wins between 1988 and 2001.