The 33rd edition of the Dakar rally saw some interesting records being set. First of all, it was Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah of team Volkswagen who clinched the overall victory to claim the first win in his sixth attempt of the legendary Dakar. With Al-Attiyah on top, Volkswagen managed to achieve their third consecutive win at the Dakar, and have remained unbeaten since the event shifted to South America. In the bike category, it was Marc Croma who finished first once again, and also set a record by claiming his third consecutive win.

Nasser Al-Attiyah, along with co-driver Timo Gottschalk, finished the rally with the second fastest time on the final stage, and an overall lead of 49 minutes and 41 seconds. The German manufacturer truly stamped its authority on the Dakar, as Giniel de Villers and Dirk von Zitzewitz took second place, followed by Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz in third to make it an all-VW podium. Former Dakar champion, Stephane Peterhansel, was looking good to challenge the leader board, but a series of punctures doomed the hopes of the BMW X3 driver, who finally finished fourth overall. The list of casualties who could not complete the event included Robby Gordon and Guerlain Chicherit. Gordon couldn’t proceed due to a blown engine in his Hummer, while Guerlain rolled his Mini Countryman during a test session on the rest day.



The bike category witnessed stiff competition between Marc Coma and Cyril Despres for the title. Both the riders rode well, but, in the end, it was Coma who was the beneficiary of two costly errors made by Despres. The first was a disciplinary action that the organizers took against the Frenchman, as he violated the rules of the starting zone resulting in a 10 minute time penalty. The second one was more crucial, and probably cost him the lead, as he misinterpreted the road book and ended up going off course briefly. Meanwhile, it was Yamaha’s Helder Rodrigues who grabbed third position. Luck was on Rodrigues’ side, as originally it was Francisco ‘Chaleco’ Lopez who held third spot, but on the last stage the Chilean encountered a broken suspension arm leaving him out of contention.

Kamaz, the Russian truck manufacturer, tore apart all the competition to win the manufacturers trophy in the truck category. Russian Vladimir Chagin took his 7th win at the Dakar, and was followed by Firdaus Kabirov in second, and Eduard Nikolaev in third place.