Qatari Al-Attiyah, co-driving with French cartographer Mathieu Baumel, were superior.
When the race was finished after 14 stages, their lead over Frenchman Sebastien Loeb in second place was one hour and 20 minutes.
- It was a really tough Dakar for everyone, but we managed to win again.
It is fantastic that we were able to defend the title.
I am happy to win five times, and for Mathieu it was the fourth time now, says Al-Attiyah, according to the Reuters news agency.
French victory in the final stretch
However, neither Al-Attiyah nor Loeb, who yesterday set a new Dakar Rally record when he won his sixth consecutive stage, won the stage.
Instead, it was another Frenchman, Guerlain Chicherit, who was fastest on the 417 kilometers between Al-Hofuf and Dammam.
Second fastest, just over a minute and a half after Chicherit, was Swedish Mattias Ekström.
He thus finished the Dakar rally with five consecutive podium places.
Overall, however, they finished no better than 14th place.
- It's a shame to finish.
This was obviously not what we wanted, but we have to prepare a little better the next time we come here and aim for the trophies, says Ekström.