2014 Dakar Rally

The 2014 Dakar Rally was the 36th running of the event and the sixth successive year that the event was held in South America. The event started in Rosario, Argentina on January 5 and finished in Valparaíso, Chile on January 18 after 13 stages of competition. Marc Coma won his fourth title in the motorcycle category riding a KTM; Ignacio Casale took his maiden title in the quad category on a Yamaha; Nani Roma clinched victory in the car category for the first time, ten years after his sole motorcycle title, driving a Mini; and Andrey Karginov took his first truck category title for Kamaz.

Distance according to the official website. Competitors in the bike and quad categories will cross the Bolivian border and finish the seventh stage at Uyuni, whilst those in the car and truck categories will return to Salta. All competitors will then reconvene in Calama at the end of the eighth stage.

Notes:

Honda rider Joan Barreda quickly established a lead in the overall classification with wins in the first and third stages, leading reigning champion Cyril Despres by 13 minutes by the end of the latter. A navigation error in the fourth stage set the Spaniard back however, eroding his advantage to just three minutes over Marc Coma as Despres lost some 28 minutes with engine failure.

Coma then assumed the lead of the rally with a resounding victory in stage five, Barreda dropping 41 minutes behind his countryman due to more navigation problems. Barreda was able to reduce the gap by four minutes over the course of the next two stages, before losing further ground on the ninth stage with a 15-minute speeding penalty.

This gave Coma a lead of 55 minutes, which Barreda was able to reduce to 37 minutes before losing two and a half hours with electrical problems on the penultimate stage. This promoted Coma's team-mate Jordi Viladoms to second, almost two hours adrift of the winner by the end of the rally, and Yamaha's Olivier Pain to third.

Despres won three stages on his comeback to fourth, ahead of top Honda rider Hélder Rodrigues. Barreda wound up seventh after taking victory on the final stage, his fifth of the rally.

Marcos Patronelli, who hit the front of the overall classification after winning the second stage, had to abandon the competition after suffering an accident in the third stage. The Argentinean saved his own life by jumping from his quad, which fell 600 metres down a cliff. The accident left fellow Yamaha rider Rafał Sonik in first place, but the pole lost time on the fifth stage with a navigational error.