Editing Dakar Rally (section)

===Peugeot and Citroën domination===

The [[1987 Dakar Rally|1987 rally]] marked the start of an era of increased official factory participation in the car category, as French manufacturer [[Peugeot]] arrived and won the event with former [[World Rally Championship|World Rally]] champion [[Ari Vatanen]]. The 1987 event was also notable for a ferocious head-to-head duel between Neveu and Auriol in the motorcycle category, the former taking his fifth victory after Auriol was forced to drop out of the rally after breaking both ankles in a fall.<ref name="retrospective"/> The [[1988 Dakar Rally|1988 event]] reached its zenith in terms of entry numbers, with 603 starters. Vatanen's title defence was derailed when his Peugeot was stolen from the service area at [[Bamako]]. Though it was later found, Vatanen was subsequently disqualified from the event, victory instead going to compatriot and teammate [[Juha Kankkunen]].<ref name="retrospective"/>

Peugeot and Vatanen returned to winning ways in [[1989 Dakar Rally|1989]] and [[1990 Dakar Rally|1990]], the latter marking Peugeot's final year of rally competition before switching to the [[World Sportscar Championship]]. Sister brand [[Citroën]] took Peugeot's place, Vatanen taking a third consecutive victory in [[1991 Dakar Rally|1991]]. The 1991 event also saw [[Stéphane Peterhansel]] take his first title in the motorcycle category with Yamaha, marking the beginning of an era of domination by the Frenchman.

For the [[1992 Dakar Rally|1992 event]], the finish line moved to [[Cape Town]], South Africa in a bid to combat a declining number of competitors, where [[Global Positioning System|GPS]] technology was used for the first time.<ref name="retrospective"/> Auriol became the first person to win in multiple classes after taking Mitsubishi's second victory in the car class, while Peterhansel successfully defended his motorcycle category title. The [[1993 Dakar Rally|1993 rally]] entry list slumped to 153 competitors, around half of the preceding year's figure and around a quarter of that of 1988. The event was the last to be organised by Gilbert Sabine and the [[Amaury Sport Organisation]] took over the following year. With the finish line now back in its traditional location of Dakar, [[Bruno Saby]] won a third title for Mitsubishi and Peterhansel took a third straight success in the motorcycle category.

The [[1994 Dakar Rally|1994 event]] returned to Paris after reaching Dakar, resulting in a particularly grueling event. [[Pierre Lartigue]] took Citroën's second win in acrimonious circumstances, as Mitsubishi's leading drivers were forced to withdraw from exhaustion after traversing some particularly demanding sand dunes in the Mauritanian desert that the Citroën crews had opted to skip.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mitsubishi-motors.co.jp/motorsports/history/1994.html|title=1994 Paris-Dakar-Paris|publisher=Mitsubishi Motors|access-date=2014-01-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108041107/http://www.mitsubishi-motors.co.jp/motorsports/history/1994.html|archive-date=2014-01-08|url-status=dead}}</ref> Peterhansel's did not compete due to a disagreement between Yamaha and the race organizers over the regulations. [[Edi Orioli]] claimed a third title in the bikes category.<ref name="retrospective"/> The [[1995 Dakar Rally|1995]] and [[1996 Dakar Rally|1996]] events begin in the Spanish city of [[Granada]], with Lartigue racking up wins for Citroën in both years. Peterhansel returned to take a fourth bikes category win in 1995, but lost to Orioli in 1996 because of refuelling problems.<ref name="retrospective"/>