Coma clinches third Dakar win
Added on Monday, January 17th, 2011 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments
Coma clinches third Dakar win
Marc Coma celebrated his third success in the Dakar Rally at the weekend, finishing more than 15 minutes ahead of KTM teammate and defending champion Cyril Despres.
Coma secured KTM’s tenth Dakar success in a row as he rode into Buenos Aires, benefitting from a 10-minute penalty earlier in the race for Despres. Third place went to Yamaha rider Helder Rodrigues who finished 1 hour 40 minutes behind Coma.
Over the course of the rally, Coma won five stages while Despres took three to give the pair eight out of the total 13 stages.
The victory comes for KTM despite rule changes that limited maximum displacement to 450cc, forcing Coma and Despres to ride the new KTM 450 Rally Replica instead of the KTM 690 that claimed the top two positions in the 2010 race.
Coma, understandably, was delighted with the success and explained how his focus helped him to go one better than last year.
“Staying focused was essential so I did focus on my riding. It was the only way to win,” says Coma.
“What was really tough was that I could not let my guard down, not even for a second. When a tough stage was ending, the next one was even tougher. We all know that a Dakar is a difficult race but this year it was particularly difficult.
“This victory is the reward of all the hard work, the reward of many years and a lot of tensions over the last few days. It is the bonus you get for steering right and for so many sacrifices over the years.”
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