Acerbis Sponsored Rider Donna Gray saw her second visit to the rallye scene at this Month’s Transanatolia Rallye, held in Turkey. Although new to this scene Donna consistently rode faster specials than seasoned competitors. The ‘Torque racing’ Team rider came away with not only the Ladies class win but an outstanding 8^th place overall despite a heavy crash on the last day.

On the podium Donna said “Wow another fantastic event and venue, that i truly feel privileged to take part in. The scenery and going changed on a daily basis, one mind blowing view after another, from sandy Imploded volcano’s to 3000M rocky mountain passes on to the smooth fast planes. This rallye is fantastic!.. It’s a must do, and organisation and food has been excellent.”

Red Bull KTM factory rider and Acerbis backed Cyril Despres on Sunday rode into Lima in triumph to seal his fourth career Dakar title in this, the toughest event on the annual motorsports calendar. His teammate and also Acerbis backed Marc Coma finished second overall in what was one of the most epic two-way battles in the rally’s history.

The race was a personal triumph for French-born Despres who first won in 2005 and repeated the victory in 2007, 2010 and again in 2012. His teammate Marc Coma, who won the rally in 2006, 2009 and 2011 finished second after one of the Dakar’s most historic and closely fought battles. Both riders set the scene for a two-way competition right from the first stage and remained minutes apart until the penultimate stage on Saturday. Coma won five stages in the 2012 edition and Despres four but it was the turn of the Frenchman to ride in triumph into Lima.

Overall Results after final Stage 14

1, Cyril Despres, France, KTM, 43 hours 28 minutes and 11 seconds 

2, Marc Coma, Spain, KTM at 53:20

3, Helder Rodrigues, Portugal, Yamaha at 1:11:17

4, Jordi Viladoms, Spain, KTM at 1:40:56

5, Stefan Svitko, Slovakia, KTM at 1:47:28

14, Johnny Aubert, France, KTM at 4:39:39