Dakar Rally: Second overall victory for Nasser Al-Attiyah

Nasser Al-Attiyah secured his second victory in the Dakar Rally after nearly two weeks of domination of the 2015 event. The Qatari took the lead early on and only lost it to X-raid team-mate Orlando Terranova due to a penalty after the first stage.

After he regained it on the following day, Al-Attiyah stayed on top and secured a commanding win at the end of the event on Saturday. Third place in the final stage of the rally was enough for Al-Attiyah to clinch overall victory, his second following his 2011 triumph with Volkswagen. Al-Attiyah's win also means an X-raid Mini has won the Dakar for four consecutive years.

Giniel di Villiers finished in second place in his Toyota, over 35 minutes behind the winner. Krzysztof Holowczyc completed the podium in another X-raid Mini. The final special of the rally was shortened to just 34km due to heavy rain, and it meant the stage finished at the first control point.

American Robby Gordon took victory by 31 seconds from Leeroy Poulter and by 34s from Emiliano Spataro. Al-Attiyah finished the special in sixth, 48 seconds behind. Peugeot's troublesome return to the Dakar ended with Stephane Peterhansel outside the top 10 after finishing in 12th place in today's stage.

In the bikes category, Spaniard Marco Coma secured his fifth Dakar victory, while Airat Mardeev won in trucks and Rafal Sonik in quads.

Indian rider CS Santosh also completed the Dakar Rally on his debuit stint. He secured 36th place overall.

Comments

2018 Lamborghini Urus India review, test drive

On first introduction, it’s a recipe for intimidation. It’s claimed to be the fastest SUV in the world (0-100kph in 3.6sec and a top speed of 305kph puts it nearly in supercar territory), and it’s made by Lamborghini – creator of some of the most savage vehicles on the market. Things – as with any Lamborghini, for that matter – would be a lot less daunting if we were driving on a smooth European country road, a wide motorway, or even a race track. But today we’re driving the Urus on a narrow ghat road, as well as through some heavy Pune traffic. Perhaps the intention was to demonstrate that this is the first Lamborghini ever to go on sale in India that truly works in our conditions – but still, I doubt they accounted for rush hour. It’s requisitely mad to look at, employing as many ‘sporty’ design tropes to an SUV body style as possible – the only thing missing is a massive wing on the back; and somehow, it works. It’s ...

What to avoid during a car service

When it comes to getting their cars serviced at authorised outlets, owners usually go the whole hog. They want their cars coming out of service centres looking brand new, and are willing to pay for it. But do service centres take undue advantage of this? Yes, they do. Servicing may involve changing certain parts and oils after a set interval, but service centres will almost always try to plug in a few extras using technical jargon that a layman may not really understand. Certain processes are completely unnecessary, and customers end up paying extra as they are not aware of what's important and what's not. Also, most of the times, the service associate will throw you a hard sales pitch, and it's not always done with your best interests in mind. So what exactly are the things you don’t really need and should avoid? Engine flushing Flushing an engine simply means cleaning the impure oil and gunk that ...

Honda City facelift India launch on February 14

Honda will launch the refreshed City sedan in the Indian market on February 14, 2017. The carmaker has started accepting bookings for the updated sedan with the booking amount set at Rs 21,000. The Honda City had long been the best seller in the segment, though in recent months the Maruti Ciaz has risen to the challenge, outselling the City in certain months last year. And with rivals such as Skoda having recently given the Rapid a facelift, and Volkswagen’s near constant updates to the Vento, Honda looks to refresh interest in the City with a facelifted model. Here’s what you can expect from the updated Honda City in India. 1. It sports cosmetic changes: The updated City’s front now gets a Civic-like nose and chin, along with a chrome band running across the grille and spilling over the headlights on both sides. The headlights' shape has been mildly tweaked and now houses LED daytime runn...

Automobilestillnow

Search This Blog