| 2015 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship | |||
| Previous: | 2014 | Next: | 2016 |
The 2015 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship season was the 13th season of the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship.[1]
Austria's Matthias Walkner, riding a KTM, was the winner of the championship by 7 points ahead of Great Britain's Sam Sunderland, who also rode a KTM.[2] Walkner won the season's fourth event, the Sardegna Rally Race, while Sunderland was the winner of the final event, the Rallye OiLibya du Maroc. Third place in the championship, 11 points further behind Sunderland, went to the best-placed Honda rider, Paulo Gonçalves. Defending champion Marc Coma finished fourth, after announcing his retirement[3] midway through the season – he was the only rider to win more than one event, winning the first two events at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and the Sealine Cross-Country Rally. Two other riders won races in 2015; Pablo Quintanilla won his home event at the Atacama Rally, and Poland's Jakub Piątek won the Rallye des Pharaons.
There was also another impressive ride for Austrian motocross star turned rally raid rider, Matthias Walkner, as he picked up second overall. The Red Bull KTM Factory Team rider was a Dakar rookie this time last year, but his astonishing rate of progress has seen him claim the title of 2015 FIM World Cross-Country Rallies Champion following a string of successful results this year.