Dubliner Oran O'Kelly completes gruelling Dakar Rally

Oran O'Kelly completed his mission to finish the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia, crossing the line 57th overall in the bike category in the gruelling two-week race.

The Dubliner, riding for Vendetta Racing UAE, crossed the line after more than 75 hours of racing in 57th position, 23 hours and 37 minutes behind winner Ricky Brabec.

It marked the second time the American has won the event.

O’Kelly is the first Irish competitor since Stan Watt in 2013 to compete in the iconic race that covers a mammoth 9,000km

Created in 1978, the Paris-Dakar Rally, as it was called then, tested drivers from the French capital to Sengalese capital.

It has changed many times since then - security threats across Africa led to the rally being staged in different parts of the globe – and is now held in Saudi Arabia.

O'Kelly spoke to RTÉ Sport earlier this week where he insisted his goal was simply to make the finish line.

"I think trying to achieve anything above and beyond a finish is wildly naïve," he said.

Spaniard Carlos Sainz, 61-year-old father of the namesake Ferrari Formula One driver, won the car category for the fourth time.

Sainz finished the 12th and final stage in Yanbu, on the Red Sea coast, with a lead of one hour 20 minutes and 25 seconds over Belgian Guillaume de Mevius for Overdrive Toyota with France's Sebastien Loeb third.

Loeb, a nine times world rally champion who had been Sainz's biggest rival until mechanical problems ended his challenge on Thursday, won the final stage in a Prodrive Hunter for the Bahrain Raid Xtreme team.

Sainz has now won the Dakar with four different manufacturers - Volkswagen in 2010, Peugeot in 2018 and Mini in 2020 - and he did it this time without winning any of the individual stages.

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