High five... KTM rider Marc Coma has won his fifth Dakar title.

Nasser al-Attiyah and Marc Coma avoided ‘last-leg’ drama to secure the car and bike titles respectively at the 2015 Dakar Rally which came to a close last weekend after more than 9,000km.

Second place in the car category went to South African Ginel de Villiers who was 35 minutes 34 seconds behind Al-Attiyah.

Qatari Al-Attiyah sealed his second Dakar triumph after his maiden title in 2011 while defending champion Coma made it five wins in the two-wheel category.

For Al-Attiyah’s Mini team it was a fourth successive Dakar title while Coma’s KTM outfit topped the bike section in this off-road classic for the 14th time.

“The key was to remain in front each day, and that wasn’t easy,” Al-Attiyah, 44, said.

The Qatari, a bronze medal winner in skeet shooting at the 2012 London Olympics, was sixth on the final Stage 13 from Rosario to Bardero, north of Buenos Aires, which was shortened to only 34km due to heavy rain.

“We had to work day after day but we did a great job with Mathieu (Baumel, his co-driver). I reckon experience helped in this second title, and training.”

Spanish rider Coma said he was “proud and happy” to claim his fifth Dakar victory.

“To talk about a sixth title next year is still too early. I want to enjoy this fifth win first,” he said.

Al-Attiyah dominated from start to finish. He laid down his marker for the title by posting the quickest time in Stage 1 leaving Buenos Aires a fortnight earlier.

He was subsequently stripped of the first stage for speeding but did not let that hiccup undermine him as he bounced back to take Stage 2. He eventually won five stages.

Assisted by Frenchman Baumel, he mustered all the challenges the Dakar could throw at him, from crossing the Andes to coping with Chile’s Atacama Desert to Bolivia’s salt flats.

Coma, who is sponsored by Red Bull,  rode to the start of the final Stage 13 with a 17-minute lead over Portugal’s Paolo Goncalves but both riders were unable to complete the 393km of the final stage into Buenos Aires after heavy rain made the track surface slippery and too dangerous.

The race was halted at CP2 and Coma was declared the overall winner.

The win for Coma equals that of his former KTM team-mate Cyril Despres and represents the domination of these two riders on the event for a decade.

Fapi Motors Ltd, the official KTM dealers in Malta, were among the first to congratulate Coma and KTM for their Dakar success.