2012 Dakar Rally Photo Gallery

2012 Husqvarna TE449 RR Rally Bike

2012 Speedbrain Dakar Rally Team

Marc Coma

Marc Coma testing in Morocco

Joan Pedrero testing in Morocco

Marc Coma testing in Morocco

Marc Coma and Joan Pedrero - 2012 Dakar

Marc Coma (left) and Joan Pedrero unveling their 2012 MRW KTM machine.

Marc Coma

Marc Coma: "Both as a person and as athlete I have been progressing and growing and now I have a lot more experience. I think we are in a good moment and now is time to gather the fruits of all these years.”

Marc Coma testing in Morocco

Marc Coma: "Last year we achieved a great victory and we hope we can repeat it. It is difficult, but with the help of the team and a good set-up for the bike, we have chances to repeat that victory.”

Marc Coma

Joan Pedrero

KTM 450 Rally Bike

KTM 450 Rally Bike Spec Sheet

Marc Coma is a courier for a day

Marc Coma delivering packages as a courier for a day

Marc Coma courier for a day

Marc Coma

Joan Pedrero and Marc Coma will be on their bikes racing at the Dakar Rally in less than a week.

Marc Coma is ready for the 2012 Dakar with all of the needed protection to last the 15 day run in the desert.

Boots needed for protection during the Dakar Rally.

Protection for the neck and shoulders is important during the Dakar Rally

Gloves need to protect yet be functional while riding.

Alain Duclose and team mate Francisco Lopez gear up for the 2012 Dakar Rally.

Francisco 'Chaleco' Lopez is with Aprilia Racing Team and is ready for Dakar Rally.

Guards are essential in protection during races.

Marc Coma

The route for the 2012 Dakar Rally.

Goggles help protect the eyes from the wind and sand during the races.

Helping to keep the head protected during the Dakar Rally is Marc Coma's helmet

Marc Coma

Francisco 'Chaleco' Lopez has taken the early lead in the 2012 Dakar Rally after winning the first stage.

Francisco Lopez - Stage 1

Helder Rodrigues - Stage 1

Marc Coma - Stage 1

Cyril Despres - Stage 1

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MRW KTM's Cyril Despres had a much better performance on Day 2 and is currently 22 seconds behind Lopez in third.

Spaniard Marc Coma earned his first stage victory on Monday and now leads the Dakar Rally as it enters Day 3.

Francisco Lopez: " I found it a bit difficult to follow, because I had a problem with my GPS aerial and I'm also quite tired. But these first two days of racing were important for me, to see how I am physically. I'm happy to have reached the finishing line. For the moment, I'm not thinking about the general standings, but I think there was a lot to lose today, because the special was very long and tricky.”

Husqvarna's Joan Bort had a strong performance in the second stage to finish on the podium. He is currently fifth overall.

American Jonah Street suffered mechanical troubles during Stage 2 with his Yamaha WR450F and had to withdraw from the competition.

Jonah Street - Stage 2

Joan Barreda - Stage 3

Marc Coma - Stage 3

Helder Rodrigues - Stage 3

Cyril Despres at the Fiambala Dunes - 2012 Dakar Rally Stage 5

The 2012 Dakar Rally was forced to cancel its activities for the day as rain and snow prevented a safe pass over the peak of the Andes Mountains.

Spaniard Marc Coma remains just less than 10 minutes behind Cyril Despres in the 2012 Dakar Rally after six days

Cyril Despres (#2) and Ruben Faria ride the link stage together after organizers cancelled the sixth special due to weather.

Marc Coma posted his third stage victory in the 2012 Dakar Rally but still trails Cyril Despres by more than seven minutes.

Frenchman Cyril Despres had a slow day but still managed second in the stage less than a second ahead of Paulo Goncalves.

Cyril Despres - Stage 7

Ruben Faria - Stage 7

Juan Pedrero Garcia - Stage 7

Portugal's Paulo Goncalves used Stage 7 to improve to fourth in the standings after finishing the day in third.

A glance at some of the numbers involved with racing the Dakar Rally raid.

Marc Coma trails Cyril Despres by close to eight minutes with more than half the rally still remaining.

Marc Coma - Stage 7

KTM's Juan Pedrero is currently 10th overall and more than an hour behind the leader coming into the rest day.

Juan Pedrero - Stage 7

Marc Coma escaped the challenges of Stage 8 with his fourth win of the rally to reclaim the overall lead.

Cyril Despres was one of the unlucky ones who became stuck in a mud hole during the special.

KTM's Ruben Faria finished seven minutes off the pace of Marc Coma to claim third.

Norwegian Pal Anders Ullevalseter had his best finish of the rally so far despite also getting stuck in the mud.

Cyril Despres quickly answered Marc Coma's surge with another strong performance to reclaim the overall lead. However, serious penalties prevented the Frenchman from scoring another win.

Marc Coma handed the lead back to his rival and now trails the competition by two and a half minutes.

Helder Rodrigues benefitted from stiff penalties to his rivals and was credited the victory in Stage 9.

Coma gains ground on Despres once again, his second-place finish in Stage 10 closing the overall advantage to 21 seconds.

Husqvarna's Joan Barreda Bort took the Stage 10 victory in the 2012 Dakar Rally.

KTM's Cyril Despres lost ground on Marc Coma after the duo closed to within 21 seconds during Stage 10.

Cyril Despres took another stage victory and extends his lead over Marc Coma as the Dakar Rally enters Peru.

Johnny Aubert - Stage 11

Marc Coma dropped more than two minutes behind his rival after struggling with navigation during Stage 11.

Marc Coma - Stage 11

Ruben Faria - Stage 11

Husqvarna's Joan Barreda followed his win in Stage 10 with another strong result after finishing fifth.

Defending champ Marc Coma has the advantage in the 2012 Dakar Rally with just two stages left. Can he secure his first-ever repeat victory?

Marc Coma - Stage 12

Despite his second-place status, Cyril Despres will have the advantage of not having to open the road during the penultimate stage.

Jordi Viladoms rounded out a podium that was dominated by Spanish riders during the 12th stage.

Cyril Despres (above) now has an 11-minute advantage over Marc Coma with only one stage remaining.

Marc Coma made several navigation errors in Stage 13 and struggled with gearbox issues on his KTM 450 Rally Bike.

By taking the win in the penultimate stage Yamaha's Helder Rodrigues has solidified a top-three finish in the rally.

Marc Coma received his second consecutive Cross-Country Rallies World Championship overall win in Qatar, 2012.

Jordi Viladoms - Stage 13

KTM's Cyril Despres has officially been crowned the King of Dakar for the fourth time after upsetting his rival, Marc Coma, in the final stages.

Frenchman Cyril Despres celebrating his 2012 Dakar Rally victory in Lima, Peru.

KTM's Cyril Despres (#2) and teammate Ruben Faria approaching the finish line of the rally.

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Marc Coma: "The objective was to win, but if you analyze the results, you can see that finishing second, with five stage victories and, above all, the race we did as a whole, I think we can be very happy.”

Marc Coma aboard his KTM 450 Rally Bike

Marc Coma - Stage 14

Daniel Mazzucco finished first in the 4x4 Quad category after leading 30 racers over more than 5,592 miles of terrain.

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Claudio Hidalgo and Claudio Troncoso were one of only three side-by-side teams to finish the Dakar Rally.

Willy Alcaraz had participated in Dakar in several classes as a driver and co-driver and now has driven the Ranger RZR XP 900 and won two of the classes in Dakar.

"In Puerto Plata, at the start of the race, everybody was amazed to see me alone in my small car. Some of them were even laughing at me!,” said Alcaraz. “But days after days, they were less and less smiling when I was overtaking them in the dunes.

Four time world champion Marc Coma took the win at the recent season-opening Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.

Marc Coma in Stage 4 of the Sealine Cross-Country Rallies event in Qatar.

2012 Dakar Rally Photo Gallery

Check out all the latest photos from the 2012 Dakar Rally and check out all the latest Dakar Rally Racing News in Motorcycle USA's Dakar Rally Page.