BUENOS AIRES -- A huge crowd welcomed to this capital on Sunday the winners and competitors in the Dakar Argentina-Chile 2009, the first race to be contested on Latin American soil and which concluded Saturday with the same level of enthusiasm that surrounded the portion of the world's toughest rally held here at the beginning of the month.

The more than 280 competitors who completed the 9,200-kilometer (5,700-mile) race through Argentine and Chilean territory were greeted with tremendous ovations by fans and onlookers as they moved around the podium set up at the La Rural fairgrounds in the northern part of Buenos Aires.

Spaniard Marc Coma won the Dakar Rally in the motorbike category, his second such title in three years, South Africa's Giniel de Villiers won in automobiles with a diesel-powered car racing for Volkswagen, Russian Firdaus Kabirov won in trucks and the Czech Republic's Josef Machacek came out on top in "quads."

Coma's triumph made the KTM rider the first Spanish motorcyclist to win Dakar twice, and De Villiers' win was VW's first after the rally had been dominated to date by Mitsubishi.

Thousands of Argentines cheered their countryman Marcos Patronelli, who in 15 days of competition became a national hero and sports idol by taking second place in the rally in the quads category.

The Dakar Argentina-Chile 2009 was "historic," according to the rally's French director, Ettienne Lavigne, who said that racing authorities were examining several options with an eye toward selecting the site for the next edition of the race.

"Many said that the Dakar had died, but it came to life again and transformed itself into this great race. It's not easy to organize," Lavigne said at a press conference.

Argentines and Chileans have high hopes of being the hosts of next year's Dakar Rally, but Lavigne said that despite the success of this year's race in South America, organizers are open to other possibilities, including returning the grueling competition to Africa.