Attiyah's second title near
January 15, 2015
Nasser Al-Attiyah's dominance of the 2015 Dakar Rally continued on Thursday as he guided his Mini to a fifth stage (car) victory, putting him in a commanding position to seal his second title in the process.
The 44-year-old driver, who last won the Rally back in 2011, secured a 27-second win over teammate Orlando Terranova. South African Giniel de Villiers and his German co-pilot Dirk von Zitzwitz in a Toyota finished 39 seconds back in third.
Al-Attiyah's win was the 10th in 11 stages for Mini who now stand on the brink of a fourth success.
The Qatari driver now holds an overall lead of nearly 30 minutes on de Villiers with only two days until the finish at Buenos Aires where the race began.
"I'm quite happy today just to finish the stage. It was 194 km of very fast tracks, like a world rally championship race with a lot of spectators," said Al-Attiyah afterwards.
Defending champion Nani Roma of Spain was unable to start the stage, despite his mechanics working through the night. In truth, Roma's chances of winning the race ended long ago.
Just days after winning their first ever stage at the rally, Saudi Arabia's Yazeed Al-Rajhi and German co-pilot Timo Gottschalk find their race over after mechnical problems.
In the motorcycle category, Span's Joan Barreda guided his Honda to a second consecutive stage win, leaving him fourth overall. Standings leader Marc Coma comfortably protected his advantage.
jh/gb (AFP)