The 2015 Dakar Rally ended up becoming one of the most eventful races in recent memory. It pretty much had everything, from tremendous highs and awful lows. In the end, though, it was Marc Coma who came out on top, taking home his fifth Dakar Rally championship in the motorcycle segment and moving him one away from tying Stephane Peterhansel’s all-time mark of six Dakar Rally titles. Oh, and Coma’s fifth title also puts him in a tie with rival Cyril Despres. That’s good for him, at least as far as bragging rights are concerned.
Coma’s fifth Dakar title would’ve been more impressive if it wasn’t for the team he was riding for, KTM. The Austrian bike maker recorded its 14th straight Dakar Rally title, an incredible achievement no matter which way you slice it.
Both the rider and his team should be proud of this result, not only because it asserted their dominance over the world’s most treacherous off-road rally but also because it showed how much room there is for other competitors to improve before they can even come close to competing against Coma and KTM. That’s not to say that there wasn’t any competition throughout the race. In fact, Honda’s Joan Barreda actually led the overall standings for a significant part of the race, only to see his lead disappear after his CRF450 Rally succumbed to electrical damage in one of the later stages of the race. If that didn’t happen, we’d probably be singing a different tune by now.
But things happen at the Dakar Rally. That’s why it’s called the most difficult racing series in the world. Heck, just a little over half of the 420 competitors managed to finish the race. But Coma and KTM soldiered on, taking home the title and ensuring that every other motorcycle team in the race has another year to lament over what it needs to do to take out Coma and KTM’s reign at the Dakar Rally.
Click past the jump to read more about Marc Coma’s fifth Dakar Rally title.
Marc Coma Wins 2015 Dakar Rally originally appeared on topspeed.com on Tuesday, 20 January 2015 14:00 EST.
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