QATARI driver Nasser Al-Attiyah won his fifth Dakar Rally driver’s title and second in a row today after the iconic test of endurance finished in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

The 52-year-old won three stages and had more than an hour’s advantage in the overall standings over Frenchman Sebastien Loeb, who also finished runner-up last year.

Al-Attiyah’s Toyota team-mate Lucas Moraes of Brazil finished third.

Al-Attiyah took the overall lead after the third stage, having built up a commanding advantage in the first week and deployed a safety first strategy in the second half of the race.

Loeb, though, gave it all he could as he won a record six successive stages in the second week. But the 48-year-old Frenchman had lost so much time on the first part of the race that it was a lost cause.

Two of the main contenders Loeb’s compatriot Stephane Peterhansel and Spaniard Carlos Sainz failed to finish the race.

The 14th and final stage honours went to Loeb’s Prodrive team-mate Guerlain Chicherit. – AFP, January 15, 2023.