Editing Dakar Rally (section)

===Early growth===
182 vehicles took the start of the [[1979 Dakar Rally|inaugural rally]] in [[Paris]], with 74 surviving the {{convert|10,000|km|adj = on}} trip to the [[Senegal]]ese capital of [[Dakar]]. [[Cyril Neveu]] was the event's first winner, riding a [[Yamaha Motor Company|Yamaha]] motorcycle. The event rapidly grew in popularity, with 216 vehicles taking the start in [[1980 Dakar Rally|1980]] and 291 in [[1981 Dakar Rally|1981]].<ref name="retrospective">{{cite web|url=http://netstorage.lequipe.fr/ASO/dakar/2015/historique/historique-dakar-1979-2014_fr.pdf|title=Dakar: Retrospective, 1979-2014|publisher=Dakar.com|access-date=2016-01-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303215219/http://netstorage.lequipe.fr/ASO/dakar/2015/historique/historique-dakar-1979-2014_fr.pdf|archive-date=2016-03-03|url-status=dead}}</ref> The [[privateer]] spirit of early racers tackling the event with limited resources encouraged such entrants as Thierry de Montcorgé in a Rolls-Royce and [[Formula One|Formula 1]] driver [[Jacky Ickx]] with actor [[Claude Brasseur]] in a [[Citroën CX]], in the 1981 race won by two-time winner [[Hubert Auriol]].<ref name="History"/>

In [[1982 Dakar Rally|1982]], there were 382 racers, more than double the number that took the start in 1979. Neveu won the event for a third time, this time riding a [[Honda]] motorcycle, while victory in the car class went to the Marreau brothers, driving a privately entered [[Renault 20]]. Auriol captured his second bikes class victory in 1983, the first year that Japanese manufacturer [[Mitsubishi Motors|Mitsubishi]] competed in the rally, beginning an association that would last until 2009.

At the behest of 1983 car class winner Jacky Ickx, [[Porsche]] entered the Dakar in [[1984 Dakar Rally|1984]], with the total number of entries now at 427.<ref name="retrospective"/> The German marque won the event at their first attempt courtesy of [[René Metge]], who had previously won in the car category in 1981, whilst Ickx finished sixth. [[Gaston Rahier]] meanwhile continued BMW's success in the motorcycle category with back-to-back wins in 1984 and [[1985 Dakar Rally|1985]], the year of Mitsubishi's first victory of 12 in the car category, [[Patrick Zaniroli]] taking the spoils. The [[1986 Dakar Rally|1986 event]], won by Metge and Neveu, was marred by the death of event founder Sabine in a helicopter crash, his father Gilbert taking over organisation of the rally.