Red Bull KTM Factory rider Marc Coma moved one step closer to securing his fourth Dakar title on Friday when he finished second in the penultimate stage of this motorsports epic, almost two and a half minutes behind Yamaha’s Cyril Despres.

Coma now leads the overall standings by 1h59m49, even allowing for a 15-minute penalty when the team decided to change out his engine overnight. 



“Today was a very long stage, 350km,” Coma commented. “We finished in the Copiapo dunes. This means it is always tough, difficult and not easy for navigating. From the past we know that normally this stage is decisive.

“So now I’m here, I’m happy of course. We stayed together with Cyril all day and we arrived at the end without any big problems. Of course, there are always some small mistakes and we had to find the way point.”

Friday’s stage was not without its drama with the two leaders having to double back to find a way point within sight of the finish line and even more significantly, with Joan Barreda, who occupied second overall after Stage 11 experiencing issues half way through the timed special.

Barreda finally finished at 63rd in the stage and dropped down to seventh overall, trailing Coma by 3h17m10, only to have his second place inherited by Coma’s factory teammate Jordi Viladoms.



On his way from El Salvador to La Serena Barreda crashed hard in a wave section and severely damaged his bike, but avoided injury in the incident.

Viladoms finished fifth on Friday, nine minutes behind the leader and has a 10-minute advantage over Frenchman Olivier Pain, who is now third on the other factory Yamaha. Powering in behind Pain is Despres who will also be challenging for a podium on the final stage.

Riders started the stage at high altitude over El Salvador to avoid the Camanchaca, the morning mist coming in from the Pacific Ocean that has in the past delayed the start of the stage. Much of their ride was in the sand, especially in a big series of dunes at the end of the day.

There is still another 535km to the finish line at Valparaiso, including the last test for this year, another 157km of timed special.

Top Australian overall at this stage remains Troy O’Connor in 36th, followed by Allan Roberts in 38th and Shane Diener in 39th.

2014 Dakar Rally
Argentina-Bolivia-Chile

Stage 12 results:
1. Cyril Despres 3h58m18
2. Marc Coma +2m17
3. Olivier Pain +5m53
4. Helder Rodrigues +7m21
5. Jordi Viladoms +9m10
6. Daniel Gouet +9m52
7. Jakub Przygonski +10m45
8. David Casteu +11m03
9. Ivan Jakes +12m04
10. Javier Pizzolito +12m49

Overall standings (after Stage 12):
1. Marc Coma 52h40m16
2. Jordi Viladoms +1h59m49
3. Olivier Pain +2h10m16
4. Cyril Despres +2h14m01
5. Helder Rodrigues +2h20m39
6. Jakub Przygonski +2h27m23
7. Joan Barreda +3h04m54
8. Daniel Gouet +3h17m10
9. Stefan Svitko +3h52m55
10. David Casteu +4h01m42

Click here for detailed results