1979 Paris–Dakar Rally

182 competitors (80 cars, 90 motorcycles and 12 trucks [1]) contested the inaugural Paris-Dakar Rally, departing the Place du Trocadéro on Boxing Day 1978 to embark upon a 10,000 kilometre journey to the Senegalese capital of Dakar via Algeria, Niger, Mali and Upper Volta. All the vehicles that took part were classified together, although they would compete separately in subsequent editions of the race.

Cyril Neveu won the rally aboard a Yamaha despite not winning any individual stages, taking the lead on the sixth stage after Patrick Schaal (Yamaha) fell and fractured his little finger.[1] Jean-Claude Morellet, competing under the alias of "Fenouil", had been running second until he was forced to retire as his BMW suffered engine failure with less than 200 km of the rally left to run. That promoted Gilles Comte (Yamaha) to second and Philippe Vassard (Honda), the only competitor to complete the Bamako-Nioro stage in the originally allotted time before it was extended, to third.[1]

Alain Génestier's Range Rover was the best of the cars in fourth, ahead of the Renault 4 of the Marreau brothers. Neveu's brother Christophe had led early on in the rally after winning two of the first three stages in his Range Rover, but got lost on the stage between Arlit and Agadez along with around a quarter of the remaining competitors.[2]

Stage	Date	From	To	Dist.	Winner (cars)	Winner (bikes)
1	26 December 1978	Paris	Montlhéry	3.6	C. Neveu	C. Desnoyers
	27 December 1978	Montlhéry	Marseille		Liaison only
	28–30 December 1978	Transportation to Africa
2	31 December 1978	Algiers	Reggane		Liaison only
	1 January 1979	Reggane	In Salah	270	J. Privé	C. Rayer
	2 January 1979	In Salah	Tamanrasset		Liaison only
3	3 January 1979	Tamanrasset	In Guezzam	373	C. Neveu	R. Potisek
	4 January 1979	Assamaka	Arlit	230	G. Daurangeon	P. Schaal
	5 January 1979	Arlit	Agadez	231	P-L. Moreau	J-C. Olivier
4	6 January 1979	Agadez	Niamey	230	C. Marreau	J-C. Olivier
5	7 January 1979	Niamey	Gao	448	Stage cancelled
	8 January 1979	Gao			Rest day
6	9 January 1979	Gao	Mopti	600	A. Génestier	G. Comte
	10 January 1979	Mopti	Bamako		Liaison only
7	11 January 1979	Bamako	Nioro du Sahel	417	C. Giraudo	P. Vassard
8	12 January 1979	Nioro du Sahel	Kayes	270	None declared	C. Rayer
	13 January 1979	Kayes	Bakel		Liaison only
	14 January 1979	Bakel	Dakar	96	H. Rigal	G. Comte

• The above distances (in kilometres) refer only to the competitive timed part of the stage, which make up 3,168 km.

Pos.	No.	Competitor(s)	Vehicle	Class
1	12	Cyril Neveu	Yamaha XT 500	Motorcycle
2	2	Gilles Comte	Yamaha XT 500	Motorcycle
3	23	Philippe Vassard	Honda XL250	Motorcycle
4	162	Alain Génestier Joseph Terbiaut Jean Lemordant	Range Rover	Car
5	131	Claude Marreau Bernard Marreau	Renault 4	Car
6	23	Alain Schaecht	Honda XL250	Motorcycle
7	143	Cesare Giraudo Antonio Cavalleri Mario Cavalleri	Fiat Campagnola	Car
8	3	Christian Rayer	Yamaha XT 500	Motorcycle
9	141	Tommaso Carletti Amarilli Carletti	Fiat Campagnola	Car
10	162	Alain Vandekerkhove Daniel Pichot Gérard Dutertry	Toyota BJ	Car

• Of the 182 starters, 74 completed the rally.[3]