By 17 March 2011, Argentine president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner announced that the start would be in Mar del Plata, Argentina, the first stage would end in Bahía Blanca.

[6][7][8] Notes: The competition in the category rapidly developed into a two-horse race between KTM riders Cyril Despres and Marc Coma, who between them had won each previous Dakar event since 2005.

[9] The gap between the pair remained close to the ten-minute mark until Despres lost time by getting stuck in mud during the eighth stage, allowing Coma to re-take the lead.

KTM riders Jordi Viladoms and Štefan Svitko completed the top five, with Pål Anders Ullevålseter, who won the final stage of the event, in sixth position.

That handed the advantage briefly to Alejandro Patronelli, but his countryman Tomas Maffei seized the lead after victory in the fourth stage.

2009 winner Giniel de Villiers, driving a Toyota Hilux, finished a distant third overall, 32 minutes behind Roma, having failed to win any stages.

[16] He would have finished fifth in the overall classification with three further stage wins, Toyota driver Lucio Alvarez inheriting the position as a result of Gordon losing the appeal.

Eduard Nikolaev, taking over as de facto Kamaz team leader after the retirement of Vladimir Chagin and Firdaus Kabirov, was excluded for an incident with a competitor in the car category during the fourth stage.

[citation needed] Kamaz drivers Andrey Karginov, who won the eleventh stage, and Ilgizar Mardeev completed the top five.