Australian rider victorious in Saudi Arabia

Red Bull KTM’s Daniel Sanders secured a career best win in the world’s toughest off-road race at the 47th edition of the Dakar Rally.

Known as “Chucky”, Sanders led the race from the start as he dominated the opening rounds, winning the opening Prologue, Stage 1 and Stage 2 to build a 12 minute lead over his closest competitor.

His lead was only able to be halved to 6 minutes 51 seconds at its closest point, as the 30 year old added Stage 4 and Stage 7 wins to his race collection to match fellow Aussie Toby Price’s 2016 total on two wheels. The Australian eventually finished 8 minutes 50 seconds ahead of Tosha Schareina of Spain to win his maiden Dakar Rally and KTM’s 20th win in this particular class.

Sanders remarked on the race: “Winning this race feels massive. When I came over the last dune and saw the bivouac, I got instant chills through the whole body. All the emotions just started coming through."

A long road to glory

Daniel Sanders began his motorbike rallying journey as a 13 year old in the rural town of Three Bridges where he took part in various enduro and motocross club races, before later progressing to compete at a higher level. The biggest win of his junior career came in the FIM Junior World Trophy, where he helped secure victory for the Australian team.

In 2018, Sanders became the International Six Days Enduro champion before going on to add the 2019 Australian Enduro title the following year. This caught the attention of the KTM Factory Racing Rally Team, which added him to its roster in 2020, where he began racing with two-time Dakar winner Toby Price.

He made his Dakar Rally debut in 2021 and secured an impressive fourth place finish. Two wins in the 2022 edition, followed by a further stage win in 2023 and a top 10 finish - despite suffering injury - in 2024 provided sufficient lessons and experience as he returned for this year’s event to perform at a significantly higher level.

Sanders also credits his win at the 2024 Rally Du Maroc in October as the perfect preparation for the 2025 Dakar Rally. He said after his win in Saudi Arabia: "I was fit and strong (in Morocca), so I just knew I had to focus on what I needed to do to win the Dakar. It was a lot of hard work and it worked out really well."

Hoping for future success

What does the future hold for Sanders? He hopes achieve more in the prime of his off-road biking career.

"I just keep focusing on my job and all the work behind seems to be better. We know where we need to be better already for next year and the next race, so we'll work on that and celebrate this for a few months, I'm sure. It will be exciting to get back and see what's next."

Could he even make the move to four wheels? That is what his former teammate Toby Price did at this year’s Dakar Rally, racing a Toyota Hilux Overdrive T1+ with Sam Sunderland as they challenged the legendary Carlos Sainz Snr in the Ultimate class.

Their bid for glory ended after Stage 7 as the duo was forced to retire on medical grounds with Sunderland suffered from concussion.

words: Mike Booth
pictures: Red Bull