2015 Dakar Rally Final Results MotorcyclesWhen the 37th edition of the Dakar Rally began January 4 in Buenos Aires, 168 motorcycles were on the starting line. Fourteen days later, only 78 crossed the finish line.
And the fastest of these 78 was Red Bull KTM’s Marc Coma, who earned his fifth Dakar Rally title. This tied him with the Frenchman Cyril Despres, who switched to four wheels for the 2015 Dakar Rally (he finished 35th overall in the car category).Together, both riders have won the past 10 Dakar titles aboard KTM machinery. The 2015 win gives KTM 14-consecutive Dakar Rally titles (no rally was held in 2008 due to security issues when four French tourist where killed in Mauritania, North Africa). Coma only needs one more title to tie the record of six titles in the motorcycle category with yet another dominate French rider, Stéphane Peterhansel.Coma and his KTM 450 Rally took the overall lead in 2015 Dakar Rally after stage eight from Team HRC Honda’s Joan Barreda Bort – the man who led stages two through seven.Barreda and Coma were rivals throughout the opening stages, but Barreda suffered electronic issues aboard his Honda CRF 450 Rally in stage 8, which put him hours behind the new leader Coma.From stage eight on, Coma used his vast experience and patience to earn a fifth Dakar Rally title. He finished the 13-stage Dakar 16:53 minutes ahead of Team HRC Honda’s Paulo Gonclaves of Portugal, and 23:14 ahead of KTM-supported Toby Price of Australia.Riders did not complete stage 13 – the final day of competition that was scheduled to take riders 244 miles from Rosario to Bueno Aires – due to heavy rains that made surfaces slippy, causing too much danger. The race was halted by the second check point, and this is when Coma was declared the winner.Speaking of Coma’s performance, KTM says he “ tackled the Dakar with his usual passion and attention to detail, true to his belief that the only result that counts was that in the final day. He took victory in Stage Five and was top three in six other stages. He also rode with care and prudence in the two marathon stages, nursing a damaged tire in the first and safely bringing his KTM 450 RALLY home across the salt flats of Bolivia in wet conditions that resulted in many riders having to exit the rally after salt clogged their engines and electronics.”Following his win, Coma says “I’m happy and proud. As usual it was a grueling rally. We had to overcome a problem on the second day that slowed us down a bit in the rankings. So from then on we had to change the strategy a little and push to recover that time. We knew that the marathons would be key stages and they were.“I am happy with the team and the people we have around us. This fifth win says a lot about all of us.” Coma also congratulated his two rivals Joan Barreda and Paolo Goncalves who he said were tough opponents. “The level was very high and this also makes the win very valuable.”The shortened final stage was won by the Slovakian KTM-supported pilot Ivan Jakes, who was followed by his fellow countryman Stefan Svitko. Taking third was yet another KTM-supported rider, Toby Price. Coma, he finished stage 13 in fifth, just under two minutes behind Gonclaves.As for the two Americans that competed in 2015 Dakar Rally – privateers Gira Tony (KTM, #119) and Narino Antonio (Husqvarna, #164) – neither crossed the finish line.2015 Dakar Rally Overall Results (Motorcycle):
