Red Bull KTM rider Sam Sunderland has finished third overall at this year’s Dakar rally. The 2017 Dakar Rally winner had the unenviable task of opening the 12th stage and final timed special. Trailing rally leader Kevin Benavides by five minutes going into the stage, the 2017 Dakar winner had no option but to push as hard as he dared during the final 200km as he raced against the clock.

Unfortunately, a small error that resulted in him losing almost 10 minutes ended Sunderland’s charge for the win. Despite the setback, Sam safely arrived at the finish to claim an impressive third place overall. Although disappointed not to have secured a second career win for himself and KTM, the Brit was happy with how his race had gone.

Similarly, Matthias Walkner, the 2018 Dakar champion, on stage 12 saw him move up two places in the overall standings to a highly commendable ninth. Contesting only his second ever cross-country rally, Daniel Sanders came into his first Dakar as a true rookie. The KTM Factory Racing junior rider impressed right from the start, however, demonstrating incredible speed on the opening Prologue. From there, Sanders went on to mix it with the established Dakar specialists, claiming no fewer than five top-five stage results and showed great maturity over the entire event, grabbing the fourth position.

Toby Price, the former leading KTM rider at this year’s event and a two-time Dakar winner, was well placed to fight for the event’s final podium positions. Unfortunately, the experienced Australian suffered a fall around the 155-kilometer mark on stage 9 and required medical attention leading him to withdraw from this year’s event due to a broken collarbone.

The 43rd edition of the Dakar Rally proved to be one of the toughest in its history. With organizers delivering a punishing route across the entire 12 days of competition, the event included a wide variety of terrain together with some of the most technically demanding navigation seen in recent years. The three Red Bull KTM Factory Racing riders already enjoy a huge amount of rally experience – all three are former Dakar winners – together with knowledge of racing the Dakar in the Middle East.