Qatar's Nasser Al Attiyah seals runner-up spot in Dakar Rally 2016

Nasser Al Attiyah claimed the runner-up spot on his 12th career Dakar Rally, fighting all the way to the end in his Mini. Of those 12 Dakars, Nasser has either won or been on the podium five times.

The pace was set by the brand new Peugeot in this year's Dakar, which Nasser's Mini simply couldn't compete with. Together with co-driver Mathieu Baumel, the Qatari fought hard from start to finish, setting two fastest stage times and providing the only realistic challenge to Peugeot’s domination.

Nasser said he was driving faster and harder than ever during this year’s two-week event, which concluded this morning with a short and fast 180-kilometre gravel stage from Villa Carlos Paz to Rosario.As Nasser and Mathieu crossed the finish ramp in central Rosario – having set an identical time to Peugeot’s Cyril Despres on the final stage – they were rightly proud of a job well done.

A vital key to the crew’s success was Baumel’s confident navigation, which enabled them to negotiate some of the most difficult sand dunes ever seen on the Dakar, as well as a huge variety of road conditions in temperatures that ranged from 47 degrees centigrade to nearly zero.

After his victory last year and the runner-up spot this year, Nasser has no doubt what the future holds for 2017. “Next year?” he said with a smile at the end of the last stage. “I’m sure we can come back and win…”