AL-ATTIYAH CLINCHES FOURTH DAKAR TITLE

Toyota’s Nasser Al-Attiyah has clinched his fourth Dakar title, turning his strong position overall in the final week into an outright victory.

With a 30-minute advantage heading into the final stage, a margin the Qatari driver had maintained since the mid-event rest day, all Al-Attiyah had to do was cruise to the finish to take the overall honours. And that is exactly what he did.

19th fastest through the last 165 competitive kilometres between Bisha and Jeddah, was all that was required require from Al-Attiyah to take the win with a comfortable 27-minute margin over the rest of the field.

“It was an incredible Dakar for us. We hadn’t won since 2019. We’re pleased with the new T1+ regulations.” said Al-Attiyah.

“There were three solid teams capable of winning. Matthieu and I, the team, we all did a good job to win. We had finished second every time since we came to Saudi Arabia two years ago, now we’re really happy to achieve our goal.”

“Toyota Gazoo Racing did a fantastic job in the span of a year by building this new car. The whole race went without a hitch.”

“We were on high alert, but now we know that we have an amazing car and we will do our best for the World Championship.”

“We opened up a gap on the first day and have since managed our lead. We’re really happy, and I reckon we’ll start thinking of the next Dakar in a week or ten days.”

“We’re fortunate to get to race the Dakar in Saudi Arabia, and I would like to thank the government for this opportunity to discover such breathtaking landscapes.”

Sebastien Loeb pushed all the way to the end of this years Dakar. While there was little to no chance of being able to claw back the margin to Al-Attiyah in outright speed on the final short stage, the Prodrive BRX Hunter driver still set a quick time on Stage 12. Ending fourth fastest on the day to secure second in the overall standings.

“I think we had a great rally. We ran into trouble at the beginning and, seeing the differences there were in the stages of the rally, we were unable to close the gap.” said Loeb.

“We never stopped attacking, so we have no regrets. It’s part of the game, this is a motorsport and we have to deal with it.”

“The Dakar is nothing if not long, so it may seem cruel when you have a problem near the finish, but our situation was the opposite, we lost time at the beginning.”

“When it happened, we thought to ourselves, ‘it’s all over’, but we still managed to put up a fight despite the massive difference.”

“We could only grab a few minutes here and there. Nasser has tonnes of experience and a co-driver who only makes mistakes once in a blue moon, so he controlled the race to perfection.”

“I still had a blast, though, because every time we gained time on him, it felt great.”

Yazeed Al-Rajhi secured a podium – Image: Dakar

Local Saudi driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Overdrive Toyota) secured the final spot on the podium, his best ever result in the Dakar.

“I’m really happy and would like to thank everyone who supports me, my team, the mechanics and Jean-Marc Fortin, as well as the organisers, who really know their stuff.” said Al-Rajhi.

“I’m on the podium, but what really matters is that the whole field got to enjoy the race in Saudi Arabia. I’m also pleased for all the spectators who watched us and, of course, happy with our first podium spot. God willing, we won’t budge from there!”

Well outside of overall contention after an issue earlier in the rally, South African Henk Lategan finished the event strong winning the final stage for Toyota.

For more of the latest motorsport news pick up the current issue of Auto Action.