Qatari driver Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah has been crowned the Dakar Desert Rally title in the cars category for the fifth time in his career, with the end of the last 14th stage in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, which hosted the rally competitions, with the participation of 820 drivers and navigators, representing 68 countries. different.

Al Attiyah was crowned in the previous editions of the Dakar Desert Rally in the years 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2022.

Al Attiyah led the 45th edition by more than an hour ahead of Frenchman Sebastien Loeb (Prodrive), the 9-time world rally champion, while Brazilian youth Lucas Morais (Toyota) finished third, 1:1.13 hours behind.

Al Attiyah succeeded in maintaining the lead in the general standings throughout the stages of the race after he travelled, accompanied by his French navigator, Mathieu Baumel, the distance of the fourteenth stage that took place between Hofuf and Dammam, for a distance of 406 km (the special stage: 136 km).

Al Attiyah emerged victorious after completing the rally’s 14 stages in a total time of 45 hours and 3:15 minutes, as the 52-year-old Qatari driver became the second most successful driver in terms of the number of victories in the car category in the Dakar Rally, trailing by only three titles.

As for Sebastien Loeb, he finished second in the overall standings, 1 hour and 20:49 minutes away from Al-Attiyah, after setting a record yesterday, Saturday, by winning six consecutive stages.

As for the final stage linking Al-Hofuf and Dammam, the victory went to the Frenchman, Guerlain Chichery, after he completed its distance of 136 km within an hour and 9:24 minutes.

The Frenchman overtook Matthias Ekström, who remained the only one to defend the Audi colors in this second week of competition.

Third place overall went to Brazil's Lucas Moraes, who would have secured the double for Toyota had it not been for Loeb's aggressive crawl this week.

South Africans Ginelle de Villiers and Henk Lategan rounded out the top five, with Toyota claiming four of the top five, an impressive result for the Japanese manufacturer.

Argentine Kevin Benavides won the Dakar Rally motorcycle race for the second time, 43 seconds ahead of Australian Toby Price.

Benavidis, the KTM rider and 2021 champion, won the 14th and final stage of the race by 55 seconds in front of his teammate Price, who was leading the overall standings before the final stage. American Skylar Howes finished third in the overall standings.

Source & cover image credit: QNA

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Fareeha Imtiaz

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