Stage Thirteen (Final):

Red Bull KTM factory rider Marc Coma of Spain on Saturday sealed his fifth Dakar title and presented KTM with its fourteenth win in this offroad classic. Paolo Goncalves of Portugal took second place and KTM rookie Toby Price of Australia took the minor podium place.

{module Video-Events-Dakar-2015-Stage13}

Coma, a Red Bull athlete, rode to the start of the final Stage 13 with a 17-minute lead over Goncalves however riders were unable to complete the 393 km of the final stage into Buenos Aires after heavy rain made the track surface slippery and too dangerous. The race was halted at CP2 and Coma was declared the winner. The win for Coma equals that of his former KTM teammate Cyril Despres and represents the domination of these two riders on the event for a decade.

Coma 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.

Marc Coma: “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,” he added.

The 2015 rally was an emotional roller coaster for the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team and the KTM-supported riders. Factory racer Sam Sunderland got things off to a brilliant start with a solid first stage win, only to get lost at the tail end of Stage Two in what was the longest stage in the 2015 edition. He then crashed out early in Stage Three and had to retire.

At the same time it was already clear that two young contenders, KTM-supported Dakar newcomers Matthias Walkner of Austria and Australian Toby Price were out to impress. Both came to the Dakar with only one rally under their tires having raced the Morocco Rally in October. Both were also new to road book-style navigation.

Walkner drew attention early. After finishing 8-6 in the two opening stages he then won Stage Three. The rest of his rally saw him making great recoveries after difficult days until he finally succumbed to altitude sickness and stomach problems in Stage Nine and had to withdraw. It was an unfortunate end for a rider with great potential and as yet little experience and he exited after making his mark as a rider to watch in the future.

Price, a four-time winner of Australia’s Finke Desert classic said at the beginning of the rally that navigation would be difficult. He did have some difficulties in stages 4-6 but by the time he started in the final stage he had eight top five finishes and including a win in Stage 12. Price by then had moved up to third overall and was able to make it stick until the race was declared over.

Regular Red Bull KTM Factory rider Ruben Faria of Portugal finished sixth overall, which was a solid result given that Faria had broken his collarbone only six weeks before the rally. His teammate Jordi Viladoms was one rider who was unable to finish the difficult stage over the Bolivian salt flats. Villadoms was fifteenth overall when he retired from the race.

KTM-supported rider Riaan van Niekerk also retired after Stage Seven left Bolivia. He was overall twelfth. Jakub Przygonski of Poland, a regular KTM-supported rider who competes for Team Orlen was eighteenth overall. He has had a difficult season after a serious injury in Abu Dhabi at the beginning of 2014. 

Line honors in the final shortened stage went to three KTM riders. Ivan Jakes of Slovakia won the stage. Countryman Stefan Svitko finished second and Price was third. Svitko finishes fifth overall and Jakes was eighth overall. KTM riders took seven of the top 10 places in the 2015 edition.

The Dakar 2015 was indeed a battle of attrition. Of the 168 starters in the bikes division only 78 were on the starting line for the final run into Buenos Aires.

Overall Standings:

Stage Twelve:

Red Bull KTM factory rider Marc Coma of Spain goes into Saturday’s final stage of the 2015 Dakar Rally with a 17 minute 49 lead over second places Paolo Goncalves of Portugal. The Stage 12 victory went to KTM rookie Toby Price of Australia who further consolidates his third overall position in the rankings.

Riders are now almost at the end of the 9,000 km journey in South America and on Friday traveled from Termas Rio Honda to Rosario in Argentina, a timed special of 298 km and a 725 km liaison section.

Coma finished a comfortable sixth in the stage sacrificing 6.25 of his lead time as he preserved tire wear and is now looking at the possibility of winning his fifth Dakar title. The final stage into the finish line at Buenos Aires involves another 393 km, of which just 174 km is timed special. Should Coma succeed in taking the title, it will be a fourteenth victory for KTM in this epic annual race.

Coma said it had been another hard 300 km ride on Friday. “There was a lot to lose so it was important not to make any mistakes or crash. It is not easy to find the balance to ride like that but I am happy we are here. Today the tires were wearing a lot so I took care about that at the beginning of the special.

I felt a bit fresher on the last part and made a good pace to the end. There are still some kilometers left, but the end is getting closer now. The conditions are always very tough all the time. The young riders are pushing a lot, so I have to use my energy. We spend all year preparing to arrive here in a good shape, so it's time to spend that energy”.

Stage 12 was also an opportunity for Toby Price to illustrate his speed and skills. A passionate desert racer in Australia, Price is contesting his first Dakar Rally as a KTM-supported rider and has shown constant improvement of form as the rally has progressed.

At the beginning of this edition Price had ridden only in the Morocco Rally and was new to the navigation using the road book. Price said on Thursday that he was finally coming to grips with the navigation technique and this was illustrated on Friday when he rode a very strong stage throughout.

Price was in the lead at CP1 after 126 km and had accumulated a one minute 36 advantage over second placed Joan Barreda. He stretched the lead to 1.46 by the 231km mark at CP2 and went on to best Barreda by a margin of 1.55. Price has been in the top five in seven stages since the rally started on January 3.

Speaking after the stage, Price said he was aware that anything could still happen. “At this stage everything is just feeling good. We're enjoying it, so it's been a good experience. There have been a lot of highs and lows and good learning curves as well as a few mistakes, but we're trying to fix them as best as we can and get to the finishing line. Hopefully, that will happen tomorrow. I always knew it was going to be difficult, but you don't know until you actually come here and have a go. Then you find out how hard it really is.”

In the overall rankings Price now has a cushion of eleven minutes to KTM rider Pablo Quintanilla of Chile who is in fourth place, but whatever the outcome on Saturday, he can go away pleased with his debut ride. It was also a very good day for the Slovak duo of Ivan Jakes and Stefan Svitko, both riding KTM who finished Stage 12 in positions 4-5, ahead of Coma who opted to conserve his strength for the final push into Buenos Aires.

Red Bull KTM’s Ruben Faria finished twentieth, dropping 16.21 during the stage but stays at sixth on the overall rankings. KTM continues to have seven riders in the top 10 in the overall standings.

With a lead of 17 minutes over Paulo Gonçalves, Marc Coma will be chiefly focused on avoiding mistakes on the 174 km special that remains on the Dakar 2015 after more than 9,000 km covered. A fifth outright victory on the Dakar awaits the KTM rider, bringing him level with the amount won by Cyril Despres when riding for the same Austrian manufacturer.

Overall Standings:

Stage Eleven:

Red Bull KTM’s Marc Coma finished sixth in the Dakar Rally Stage 11 and now goes into the penultimate stage of the 2015 edition with a five minute 12 lead over Paolo Goncalves. KTM rookie Toby Price of Australia on Thursday moved into potential podium territory and is now third overall.

{module Video-Events-Dakar-2015-Stage11}

Coma, the consummate tactician and a four-times Dakar winner has said in the past that it is only where you are in the rankings on the final day that count, was satisfied after the second stage of the second marathon session of this year’s rally. With the finish line in Buenos Aires now looming large on Saturday and riders and teams worn down from the rigors of a very hard edition, riders tackled a total of 512 km, of which 351 km were timed special on the way to Termas Rio Honda.

Marc Coma: “We come from a marathon stage that is always more stressful and always with mechanical work. Our time is good but we still have a difficult day tomorrow and also the last day. I am still not able to see the end to this rally but I am happy with how things are going so far. If you look at how far we have already come, it is an eternity. So far we can say we are still very happy.”

Overnight riders were not permitted any mechanical support from teams although they may do the work themselves. Engine changes do incur time penalties, even if riders carry out the work themselves.

Price, of Australia moved into third overall for the first time and now has a marginal time advantage over KTM rider Pablo Quintanilla of Chile. He stands a fair chance of a podium finish in his first Dakar, provided he manages to hold onto the advantage over two more stages. Quintanilla has also been having an excellent Dakar and will not want to give up on going for the minor podium place.

Toby Price: "Two days is still a long way to go. We're just trying to do the best we can, stay fit and healthy, keep the bike in good shape and that's been my plan the whole way. Today was not so bad. It wasn't extremely fast but you couldn't afford to run wide on turns. It was just a good clean day." Price, new to this type of navigation and the road book said this aspect had also started to come together for him over the past couple of days.

KTM riders delivered a solid result in the stage with Ivan Jakes of Slovakia, Red Bull KTM factory rider Ruben Faria of Portugal, Price, Coma and Quintanilla finishing the stage in places 3-7. At the end of the stage there were also seven KTM riders in the top 10 overall positions.

KTM Factory Team Manager Alex Doringer said conditions had been very tough for the entire team who had endured temperatures up to 45 degrees Celsius on Thursday as well as dust storms and even flooding in past days.

“We are in good shape,” Doringer said. “Marc is happy and smiling ahead of tomorrow’s stage and no one believed that we would see Toby up here fighting for third place on his first time out at the Dakar.” Doringer said the team was in a strong position for Friday’s stage with Faria, Price and Coma starting at places four, five and six.

On Friday riders travel from Termas Rio Honda to Rosario, another 1024 km with 298 km of timed special. Teams would be permitted to transport the bikes for part of the long liaison section, Doringer said

Overall Standings:

Stage Ten:

Red Bull KTM’s Marc Coma on Wednesday consolidated his position at the head of the overall standings in Stage 10 of the Dakar Rally, picking up another two minutes on second-placed Paolo Goncalves of Portugal.

{module Video-Events-Dakar-2015-Stage10}

Coma, A Red Bull athlete now leads the standings by a margin of seven minutes 35 but there are still many kilometers to the finish at Buenos Aires and he still has to weather the second half of the second marathon stage on Thursday. Riders are not permitted any mechanical assistance or support from their teams at the halfway point of a marathon stage.

The Spanish factory rider was second in Stage Ten, which was won by Joan Barreda of Spain who has been Coma’s constant companion throughout the rally. Barreda’s chances of a victory were more or less thwarted on Tuesday when he, like many other riders experiences technical difficulties crossing Bolivia’s massive salt lake.

Coma said after the stage that it was important to stay focused so close to the end of the rally. “It’s been a tough Dakar,” he said. “We have to fight many adverse situations but after so many days and despite the suffering, I am still enjoying it. That is what is great about this race. It makes you confront your limits and when you think you can’t do any more, you face them and move on. Today’s stage was very hard and it was not easy to keep up a high pace. At first there was the altitude, and then a technical part that really tested us. I tried to keep up the same pace throughout the stage.”

Coma finished one minute 39 second behind Barreda, followed by factory teammate Ruben Faria of Portugal at 1.57 and KTM-supported rider Toby Price of Australia at 2.14. Price is fourth in the overall standings and has the possibility of catching third placed Chilean KTM rider Pablo Quintanilla, who is only around half a minute in front of the Australian. KTM currently has seven riders in the top ten positions in the overall standings. Red Bull KTM Factory riders and KTM-supported riders are contesting the Dakar on the KTM 450 RALLY.

Austria’s Matthias Walkner, who like Price was riding his debut Dakar for KTM was forced to withdraw before the start of Wednesday’s special due to illness. Walkner has had an impressive first Dakar experience with many highs and lows. Almost always among the fastest riders, he comes away with a stage win and a reputation for fighting back hard from adverse situations.

The stage took riders back across the Andes and into Argentina as the rally turns east to head back to the finish in Buenos Aires at the weekend. The timed special started on the Salinas Grandes, more than 3600m above sea level and the liaison stage saw them climb to a staggering 4970 m to cross the mountains via the de L’ACay pass so both riders and bikes had to contend with the debilitating effects of altitude.

In Stage Eleven riders will travel from Cachi to Termas Rio Honda over a total distance of 512 km, of which 351 km is timed special.

Overall Standings:

Stage Nine:

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Dakar riders returned to the challenge of reaching the finish line after Monday’s turbulent day in Bolivia with Marc Coma finishing third in Stage Nine to hold onto the overall lead by a margin of five minutes 28.

{module Video-Events-Dakar-2015-Stage9}

Riders spent their final day in the sand of Chile’s Atacama Desert as they went from Iquique to Calama over a total distance of 539 km, 451 km of which was under the clock. They first had to tackle some 50 km of sand and dunes before encountering rougher narrow tracks with plenty of potholes and areas of fesh-fesh (fine dust).

Stage winner was Helder Rodrigues of Portugal who finished in five hours 06.14 with countryman Paolo Goncalves three minutes 51 behind in second place. Coma, A Red Bull athlete crossed the line seven minutes 34 behind the leader.

Coma said it had been another very difficult day: “It was foggy at the start of the special and I made one small navigation mistake and I lost some time there, but then I tried to push with a high rhythm to come back to my position. The last part was also tricky navigation and it was difficult to find one of the waypoints. I am lucky because maybe I am faster than some of the others and I can push until the end. It’s okay. It was a good day for us.”

Other leading KTM riders in the stage were Slovakia’s Stefan Svitko who was sixth, followed by both KTM rookies, Austria’s Matthias Walkner at seventh at 22.02 and Australia’s Toby Price at 23.09. KTM factory rider Ruben Faria was twelfth home, trailing by 34.22.

Price too had occasional difficulties with the navigation: “This morning was going well and we were making up ground. I made a small navigational error in the sand but I got on top of it. We were about one minute off the lead at the first CP but then we went into the fesh-fesh area and it was really tough. Then at about the 360 km mark there was a waypoint and we all got lost and the other guys made up ground. It was frustrating to lose time there but I am happy we’re here. As long as we can get to the finish line, that’s the main goal. But if we can stay in the top five that’s even better.”

Walkner had another strong day out in the desert given that he started way down the order because of difficulties encountered in Stage Eight and had to fight his way through a lot of dust. He also hit a bump and crashed, tearing off his drink pack in the process. He had to ride the last 150 km without water and did well to reach the finish in another impressive time. Both Walkner and Price have delivered very solid performances in their first Dakar outings.

KTM riders are also well placed in the overall standings with Coma in the lead, Chile’s Pablo Quintanilla in third at 26.52, followed by Price in fourth at 31 minutes 31, Svitko is in fifth and Faria in sixth overall.

Stage 10 on Wednesday is the start of the second marathon stage, which takes riders over a distance of 891 km, including a timed special of 371 km. Preservation of bikes and tires will again be important as they are not permitted any support or assistance from their teams overnight.

Overall Standings:

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