Peugeot to leave Dakar after 2018

Paris - Peugeot announced on Tuesday that next year's Dakar Rally will be their last, despite Stephane Peterhansel winning two consecutive car titles for the French team.

The manufacturer returned to the rally in 2015 and swept the 2017 podium in Buenos Aires in January, with Peterhansel beating fellow Frenchmen Sebastien Loeb and Cyril Despres.

"As this will be our final participation in the Dakar, we are keen to end this challenging programme on a high note," said Peugeot Sport director Bruno Famin.

Nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb will head the team with Peterhansel, alongside Despres and 55-year-old Spaniard Carlos Sainz, the father of Renault Formula One driver Carlos Sainz Jr.

The 40th edition of the Dakar Rally will start in Lima on January 6, ending two weeks later in the Argentinian city of Cordoba.