Volkswagen team triamphed the 2011 Rally Paris Dakar that took place for another year in south America. Qatari VW driver Nasser Al-Attiyah avoided any trouble on the final day of the rallye and won his first ever overall title in the auto category ahead of his team-mate Giniel de Villiers by finishing second on the straightforward final stage from Cordoba back to Buenos Aires. His team-mate Carlos Sainz who was his major threat for the title slipped out of contention after problems during the final week, but at least he managed to win the final two stages of the race and finished 3rd.Nasser Al-Attiyah commented about his success:
"It means a lot to win the Dakar, for me, for my people, my country and my team. It is a great victory. It's very difficult to explain what is happening in my head. But it's very nice. We showed we had the strongest team in the world. This is the greatest moment of my sporting career. It was a dream to win the Dakar. I think after this win everyone will know where Qatar is."
For the bikes, Marc Coma wrapped up the third Dakar Rally title of his career despite only finishing fifth in the final stage.
"You have to be focused, I concentrated on my riding style. It was the only way to get the win. It was very difficult, at no time has it been possible to relax. When you finished a tough day, the next was even harder.
We know that the Dakar is very hard but this year it was especially hard.
Now I'll rest and think about the future because the truth is that when you are in this race, with all the constant tension, there is not a moment to think about something else."
Finally for the truck category Russian Vladimir Chagin took the final stage to end a successful Dakar Rally campaign in style and built up his remarkable Dakar numbers still further – sealing his seventh overall victory, and winning eight of the 13 stages to take his career total to 63.
