Daniel Sanders’ return to KTM could not have gone any better. He migrated to Red Bull Factory Racing after spending the last three years at Pierer sister brand GasGas, and immediately got off to a hot start by winning the Rallye du Maroc in October.

Three months later, in his second race for the team, he dominated the Dakar Rally from start to finish. Sanders took the bike lead by winning the Prologue and added four more stage wins after that, never losing the overall lead en route to his maiden Dakar win.

He is the second Australian to win the Dakar after former bike rider Toby Price did so twice in 2016 and 2019. His previous best was a fourth in his Dakar debut in 2021, also on a KTM albeit as a privateer.

“It’s a massive accomplishment from myself and the team after a tough year, and I can’t thank everyone enough for the support,” said Sanders. Prior to joining GasGas, he had missed most of the 2023 and 2024 W2RC due to injury and restructuring at Pierer. “It’s been a long journey, and I can’t wait to celebrate with everyone! Now it’s time to kick back and relax after a long two weeks.”

After crashing out of Stage #1 in 2024, Tosha Schareina became Sanders’ biggest pursuer. He was initially behind his Honda colleagues, including last year’s winner Ricky Brabec, before moving up to second in Stage #5 and 15 minutes back. Despite his efforts, he was never able to close the gap beyond nine minutes, somewhat hindered by shoulder pain.

Honda teammate Adrien Van Beveren joined him on the podium.

“Three years ago I was fighting just to race here at the Dakar Rally and now I’m fighting for the win. I’m super happy and hungry for more,” commented Schareina. “I’ve been dreaming about this all my life. When I was a child I would be sat on the sofa seeing my idols and now I’m here battling with them so I’m super happy.”

Sanders and Schareina’s allies rounded out the top five. Luciano Benavides, who also migrated to KTM starting at Morocco, beat Brabec for fourth by seven minutes. The former notched back-to-back stage wins in the second half. Benavides’ brother, teammate, and two-time winner Kevin withdrew after the first half as he continues to recover from his injuries.

Although they finished at the tail end of the leaderboard, Lorenzo Santolino and Rui Gonçalves still had plenty to celebrate. For the second time in its history after 2014, Sherco scored two stage wins, one by each rider.

In contrast, Hero MotoSports left the season opener wondering what could have been. Sebastian Bühler broke his collarbone in a Stage #1 crash while defending World Rally-Raid Champion and 2024 Dakar runner-up Ross Branch suffered a concussion in an accident five stages later. José Ignacio Cornejo, the only Hero to reach the finish, was seventh after falling behind early in the Prologue.

“While our overall result may not have met our pre-rally expectations, we’re incredibly proud of our team’s achievements,” said Hero manager Wolfgang Fischer. “We experienced zero technical issues throughout the event, and our crew worked seamlessly together.”

Aaron Marè, who scored Hero’s first W2RC win at Abu Dhabi last year before returning to KTM for Dakar, was also among the DNFs. During Stage #9, he sustained a concussion like Branch along with a broken right kneecap after hitting a large rock that blended into the gravel and launched him into more rocks. A concussion eliminated Honda’s Pablo Quintanilla as well.

Privateers and smaller factory teams were left disappointed by bad luck too. António Maio, the lone Yamaha in RallyGP, was unable to reach the finish due to a broken spark plug and clutch. Daniel Nosiglia of Rieju crashed on the eighth day and hurt his shoulder, while Mason Klein’s Kove endured a rash of mechanical issues with an engine failure being the dagger. Independent KTM riders Martin Michek and 2024 Rally2 champ Bradley Cox exited because of a broken chain and crash, respectively. Reigning FIM Bajas World Cup winner Mohammed Al-Balooshi of Fantic wrecked as well.

Overall results

Finish	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Time	Margin
1	1	4	Daniel Sanders	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	53:08:52	Leader
2	2	68	Tosha Schareina	Monster Energy Honda Team	53:17:42	+ 8:50
3	3	42	Adrien Van Beveren	Monster Energy Honda Team	53:23:38	+ 14:46
4	4	77	Luciano Benavides	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	53:31:08	+ 22:16
5	5	9	Ricky Brabec	Monster Energy Honda Team	53:38:42	+ 29:50
6	6	10	Skyler Howes	Monster Energy Honda Team	53:51:36	+ 42:44
7	7	11	José Ignacio Cornejo	Hero MotoSports	54:07:12	+ 58:20
8	10	142	Štefan Svitko*	Slovnaft Rally Team	55:23:30	+ 2:14:38
9	11	19	Rui Gonçalves*	Sherco Rally Factory Team	55:59:42	+ 2:50:50
10	18	15	Lorenzo Santolino*	Sherco Rally Factory Team	57:25:40	+ 4:16:48
DNF	DNF	1	Ross Branch	Hero MotoSports	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	7	Pablo Quintanilla	Monster Energy Honda Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	12	Bradley Cox	BAS World KTM Racing Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	13	Martin Michek*	Orion – Moto Racing Group	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	14	Sebastian Bühler	Hero MotoSports	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	17	Mohammed Al-Balooshi*	Fantic Rally Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	24	Aaron Marè*	HT Rally Raid	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	30	António Maio*	Franco Sport	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	47	Kevin Benavides	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	54	Daniel Nosiglia*	Rieju Pedregà Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	98	Mason Klein*	Klein Off-Road Racing	DNF	N/A

Stage winners

Stage	Winner	Time
Prologue	Daniel Sanders	16:51.7
Stage #1	Daniel Sanders	4:41:27
Stage #2	Daniel Sanders	11:12:13
Stage #3	Lorenzo Santolino*	3:44:34
Stage #4	Daniel Sanders	5:10:33
Stage #5	Adrien Van Beveren	4:51:47
Stage #6	Ricky Brabec	5:00:51
Stage #7	Daniel Sanders	4:10:33
Stage #8	Luciano Benavides	4:50:46
Stage #9	Luciano Benavides	3:15:38
Stage #10	Rui Gonçalves*	2:01:23
Stage #11	Tosha Schareina	2:12:04
Stage #12	Adrien Van Beveren	54:14

W2RC

Rank	Rider	Points	Margin
1	Daniel Sanders	38	Leader
2	Tosha Schareina	30	– 8
3	Adrien Van Beveren	24	– 14
4	Luciano Benavides	20	– 18
5	Ricky Brabec	17	– 21
6	Skyler Howes	15	– 23
7	José Ignacio Cornejo	14	– 24

Featured image credit: Charly Lopez / ASO