Al-Attiyah seals Dakar victory

Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah clinched the Dakar Rally yesterday, ending two years of heartache on the gruelling event, while defending champion Carlos Sainz was left with the consolation of taking the 13th and final stage.

Al-Attiyah, who helped Qatar to a shooting gold medal at the Asian Games last November and has also appeared at the Olympics, had virtually wrapped up the title on Thursday when Sainz’s hopes were shattered by a broken suspension.

That cost the former double world rally champion, a Volkswagen team-mate of the Qatari, 80 minutes in lost time.

“We drove a good, clean stage. I was just thinking about the finish line. It means a lot to win a Dakar, for me, for my people, for my country and for my team,” said Al-Attiyah.

Spain’s Marc Coma won his third motorcycling title while Dutch rider Frans Verhoeven won the stage.

Coma, 34, had been virtually assured of the title going into the stage and rode his KTM carefully to finish 2min 16sec adrift of BMW rider Verhoeven.

“That is a lot of work and sacrifices that have gone into winning the Dakar from myself and the backroom staff,” said Coma.

“It has cost me a lot. I have had a good year. I have had a really good team at the Dakar, and I haven’t experienced the slightest problem.”