Five-time Dakar Rally winner Marc Coma retires

Madrid: Five-time Dakar Rally winner Marc Coma is retiring to join the endurance race as its new sports director.

The Spanish motorbike rider won the world’s toughest rally for a fifth time in January. He is quitting racing at the age of 38 after 12 appearances in the gruelling event.

Coma made the announcement on his personal website and the Dakar Rally website.

He says “this level of responsibility is an opportunity for me to put back into the rally everything that Dakar has given me.”