Dakar Rally: Second overall victory for Nasser Al-Attiyah

Nasser Al-Attiyah secured his second victory in the Dakar Rally after nearly two weeks of domination of the 2015 event. The Qatari took the lead early on, and only lost it to X-raid team-mate Orlando Terranova due to a penalty after the first stage.

 

After he regained the lead on the following day, Al-Attiyah stayed on top and secured a commanding win at the end of the event on Saturday. Third place in the final stage of the rally was enough for Al-Attiyah to clinch overall victory, his second, following the 2011 triumph with Volkswagen. Al-Attiyah's win also means that an X-raid Mini has won the Dakar for four consecutive years.

 

Giniel di Villiers finished in second place in his Toyota, over 35 minutes behind the winner. Krzysztof Holowczyc completed the podium in another X-raid Mini. The final special of the rally was shortened to just 34km due to heavy rain, which means the stage finished at the first control point.

 

American Robby Gordon took victory by 31 seconds from Leeroy Poulter and 34 seconds from Emiliano Spataro. Al-Attiyah finished the special in sixth, 48 seconds behind. Peugeot's troublesome return to the Dakar ended with Stephane Peterhansel outside the top 10 after finishing in 12th place in today's stage.

 

In the bikes category, Spaniard Marco Coma secured his fifth Dakar victory, while Airat Mardeev won in trucks and Rafal Sonik in quads.

 

Indian rider CS Santosh made his debut in the Dakar Rally this year. And successfully completed the rally in his first attempt. He secured the 36th place overall.