Al Attiyah wins for fourth time

Qatari driver wins in the car category, Sunderland took his second bike title

Al Attiyah wins for fourth time
Pic: Dakar Rally (twitter)

JEDDAH: Nasser Al Attiyah of Qatar won the Dakar Rally for the fourth time in the car category, while British motorcycle rider Sam Sunderland won his second title.

Toyota factory driver Al Attiyah led from the start in Saudi Arabia on January 1 and ended 27 minutes and 46 seconds ahead of France's nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb in Jeddah.

Yazeed Al Rajhi of Saudi Arabia finished third with the Overdrive Toyota squad, his first podium finish in the event.

Al Attiyah won the Dakar in South America in 2011, 2015, and 2019 with Volkswagen, Mini, and Toyota.

He is now the event's joint-second most successful car driver, along with Finland's four-time winner Ari Vatanen and trailing France's eight-time champion Stephane Peterhansel, who also won six times on a motorcycle.

"We had finished second every time since we arrived in Saudi Arabia two years ago, and today we're incredibly thrilled to have achieved our aim," the Qatari added.

"On the first day, we opened up a gap and have since managed our lead. We're overjoyed, and I expect we'll start planning the next Dakar in a week or ten days."

GasGas rider Sunderland, who took his first title in South America in 2017, finished three minutes and 27 seconds ahead of Chilean rider Pablo Quintanilla on a Honda. Matthias Walkner of Austria finished third for KTM.

"I honestly can't be happier. This last stage was really challenging and stressful," said the 32-year-old Dubai resident following the 164-kilometer journey from Bisha to the Red Sea port city of Jeddah.

"A lot of navigation, a lot of tricky notes, a few times a bit confusing and not sure if I was going the right way. Honestly, my head can explode. What a feeling.

I wasn't sure whether I'd won until the last 10 minutes, and now they've told me, and wow, dream come true."

The Dakar Rally originated in 1978 as a race from Paris across the Sahara to Senegal's capital but was relocated to South America in 2009 because of security concerns.

The rally, one of the most dangerous and gruelling events in motorsport, relocated to Saudi Arabia in 2020 and is now in its 44th season.

Sunderland is the only British winner of the event in any category.

Alexandre Giroud became the first Frenchman to win the quadbike category.

Edited - SportsAction / Inputs - Agency