Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah on Saturday secured his sixth Dakar Rally car title in Saudi Arabia with Luciano Benavides scraping home by two seconds to claim the motorbike title.
“We’ve worked very hard since last year. I might not be showing much emotion yet, but it’s there, deep down. We are so happy to win,” al-Attiyah said at the finish.
Al-Attiyah, at the wheel of a Dacia, only had to avoid a final day slip-up to top the podium after bringing his career tally of stage wins to 50 on Friday.
Photo: AFP
The 55-year-old, who took clay pigeon shooting bronze at the 2012 London Olympic Games, was adding to his previous Dakar wins in 2011, 2015, 2019, 2022 and 2023.
With Belgian codriver Fabian Lurquin, al-Attiyah took control of the overall standings early on in the motorsport marathon.
After placing ninth on the 13th and final stage in Yanbu on the Red Sea, he had almost 10 minutes in hand over second-placed Nani Roma (Ford). Roma’s Swedish teammate Mattias Ekstrom won the final stage to complete the car podium in third overall.
Photo: AFP
For Romanian car manufacturer Dacia this was their first Dakar victory at only their second attempt.
Al-Attiyah already had the second-most overall victories in the car section of the rally. He moved two ahead of Finn Ari Vatanen and Spaniard Carlos Sainz — Formula One driver Carlos Sainz Jr’s father — who are tied for third with four each. Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel won a record eight times in cars between 2004 and 2021 to go with his car six victories in the motorbike category.
“This is my sixth victory. I still need to break Peterhansel’s record,” al-Attiyah said.
Last year’s champion, Saudi Arabian Yazeed al-Rajhi, was forced to pull out with mechanical problems last week.
Earlier, Argentina’s Luciano Benavides took the bike honors by a mere two seconds.
Second in the 13th and closing stage was enough for the 30-year-old KTM rider to deny Honda’s American two-time champion Ricky Brabec and secure a debut Dakar crown.
“I’ve dreamed of this moment my whole life,” Benavides said.
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