January 17, 2015 – Nasser Al-Attiyah took his second Dakar Rally victory after a completely dominant performance throughout the 13 days of competition. The Qatari and his French co-driver Mathieu Baumel clinched five special stage wins in the MINI ALL4 Racing and finished 35 minutes ahead of their closest pursuers.
Toyota’s Giniel de Villiers settled for second place overall in his Toyota. The South African couldn’t keep up with Al-Attiyah, but successfully fended off Polish driver Krzysztof Holowczyc (MINI) who ended up third in the general standings.
The last special of the 2015 Dakar, which was shortened from 174 kilometers to just 34 km due to heavy rain, was won by Robby Gordon (Hummer), who launched a big attack to beat Leeroy Poulter (Toyota) by 31 seconds and Emiliano Spataro (Renault) by 34.
In the bikes category, KTM’s Marc Coma won his fifth Dakar at the end of today’s shortened special. The Spaniard, who trailed Honda’s Joan Barreda throughout the first part of the rally, will be escorted by Paulo Gonçalves (Honda) and Toby Price (KTM) on the podium. Today’s stage winner was Ivan Jakes, 46 seconds ahead of countryman Stefan Svitko.