Mark Coma earned another Dakar Rally win today, beating out his rival Cyril Despres by more than 15 minutes. Despres and Coma have won the last 6 Dakar Rally victories, claiming three apiece. Here are some quotes from the final day of the 2011 Dakar.
Juan Pedrero: "Really, really happy"
I am really happy. We worked hard and we can be happy. I must thank Marc (Coma) and all of those who helped me, especially the many sponsors without whom I would not be here. I am really, really happy. My track record is a fast one, for sure. In just three year, I am now in an official team and I am finishing fifth!
Frans Verhoeven: "Pretty happy with my Dakar"
To be honnest, this was not a stage for me. It was too short. I prefer longer stages. At my age, longer stages are better; I am an enduring person. I did some self-motivation and this morning, I was very focuses on the curves. I released the brakes a notch and I increased my puch another notch. I tried not to make mistakes despite the dust in front of me. I was pretty successful and I won the scratch. I had a very good Dakar. I finished almost every day in the Top 10. It was my goal. There was just one very bad day where I have to change my engine in the stage and I lost 5h30. If I had not lost that time, I would have fought for fourth place. But tha's not how it works. I am finishing 16th and I am pretty happy about it.
Marc Coma: "Many sacrifices to get to here"
Staying focused was essential so I did focus on my riding. It was the only way to win. What was really tough was that I could not let my guard down, not even for a second. When a tough was ending, the next one was even tougher. We all know that a Dakar is a difficult race but this year it was particularly difficult. This victory is the reward of all the hard work, the reward of many years and a lot of tensions over the last few days. It is the bonus you get for steering right and for so many sacrifices over the years. I have to pay tribute to all the people in my team, who supported me. We had ambitious goals and to reach them we had to have the best, people made for the Dakar and willing to all work towards the same goal. As anyone in the Dakar, we had tough times. So I am going to get some rest and think about the future. Becaue, truth is that with the race and the permanent tension I did not have time to think about anything else in a long time.
Cyril Despres: "Sad I could not do better than this"
This special is different if you are in first place as it was the case last year... then you want the race to be shorter. When you are second, you would want the race to be longer. But anyway, the feeling of finishing a Dakar is always nice especially here with all the people welcoming you. I am sad I could not do better than this though I raced 11 Dakar, won 3 and ended 8 times on the podium. One more would have been great. But I just could not make any better. I made some mistakes; they were two small mistakes but they held some heavy consequences.
Here is a video summary of the final stage of the Dakar Rally.
