Nasser wins the Dakar!

January 18, 2019 0 Comments

Nasser Al-Attiyah has won the Dakar Rally for a third time, after a faultless performance in his Toyota Gazoo Racing Hulix.

Superbly co-driven by Mathieu Baumel, the Qatari driver managed to avoid all the pitfalls and win three out of the 10 stages – all of which were located in Peru.

“It’s fantastic. No mistakes during the entire rally. It was a very, very difficult rally for everybody,” said Al-Attiyah. “The good thing was that from day three we were leading and we built on our time everyday until we came to the last day with a big, big lead.

“I’m really happy – thanks to Toyota, thanks to BF Goodrich tyres, all the sponsors, Qatar, Red Bull. It made everything happen right for this year. I’m happy for Toyota because it’s the first time in the history of Toyota that they won the Dakar, this is fantastic.

“Everybody wants to win the Dakar. But we felt when we came that in Peru, a 100% Peru rally, with no other country, there would be a lot of sand dunes, so we could do what we know we're good at. We we're leading from day three and, yeah, I'm really quite happy.”

Nani Roma/Alex Bravo finished second in a X-raid Mini, while Sébastien Loeb/Daniel Elena came home third in a PH Sport Peugeot 3008 DKR, after losing time with an electrical problem.

Harry Hunt was forced to retire with back pain after rolling his Peugeot 3008 DKR.

Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel wear Stilo WRC DES ZERO 8860 helmets.