Marc Coma wins 2015 Dakar Rally

Marc Coma emerged victorious in the 2015 edition of the Dakar Rally in the motorcycle class. It was the fifth career win for the Spanish rider in the arduous rally. With the 2015 Dakar Rally triumph, Coma has equalled Cyril Despres record of five Dakar wins and is now second in the most number of wins list. He is now just one win behind French rider Stephane Peterhansel who has won Dakar an unprecedented six times. Marc Coma was riding for KTM and the 2015 Dakar win enabled the Austrian bikemaker to maintain its dominance by registering its 14th consecutive Dakar victory. 

But it wasn’t an easy win for Marc Coma as he faced cutthroat competition from HRC’s Joan Barreda who went on to win the highest number of stages in 2015 Dakar. Many riders were in contention for the title in the initial stages of the rally but by the final stage; crashes, retirements and penalties meant that Coma could regain the lead. Paulo Gonclaves was in the reckoning till the final stage but an engine change during the final marathon stage quashed his hopes as he finished second overall to give HRC Honda the runner-up tag. Australia’s Toby Price was definitely among the highlights of 2015 Dakar Rally as he finished in third position overall despite the fact that it was his very first attempt in the gruelling rally. Female rider Laia Sanz was another notable participant in the 2015 Dakar Rally as she finished in ninth position. 

Following his win, Coma said, “I’m happy and proud. As usual it was a gruelling 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. ” 

Dakar 2015 Final Standings:

1. Marc Coma (KTM), 46h 3m 49s

2. Paulo Gonçalves (Honda), +16m 53s

3. Toby Price (KTM), +23m 14s

4. Pablo Quintanilla (KTM), +38m 38s

5. Stefan Svitko (KTM), +44m 17s