Five-star Al-Attiyah and Benavides take honors at Dakar Rally

DAMMAM: Qatari driver Nasser Al-Attiyah on Sunday won his fifth Dakar Rally driver’s title and second in a row, with Argentina’s Kevin Benavides securing his second motorbike crown.

The 52-year-old Al-Attiyah 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 teammate Lucas Moraes of Brazil finished third on his debut in the iconic test of endurance which reached its climax in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

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.

“We just finished and I’m so happy. It was a difficult Dakar for everyone,” said Al-Attiyah. “It’s crazy to manage to defend my title. I’m very happy to win five times, and Mathieu (his co-driver Mathieu Baumel) four ... Sorry, Mathieu!

“We didn’t have to attack like crazy. We managed to get through the second week and win the Dakar at the end, that’s what really matters.”

Loeb 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.

“After the beginning of the Rally we had we could not hope for better than this,” said Loeb.

“Nasser was so consistent that he was unbeatable, he produced a brilliant performance without any mistakes.”

Moraes — whose co-driver Timo Gottschalk was Al-Attiyah’s partner in his first win in 2011 — was proud as punch to be the first Brazilian to finish in the top three.

“It was important for the rally community in Brazil because it had never happened before,” he