GRID TALK | Daniel Sanders

Five years on from bursting onto the Dakar Rally scene, claiming an impressive fourth place finish and the Rookie of the Year title in his debut appearance, Daniel Sanders continues to make waves in the world of Rally Raid. Winning his first Rally Raid event at Sonora in Mexico, the now 30-year-old has overcome significant challenges to establish himself as a formidable competitor in the sport.

As 2021 Dakar Rookie of the Year, you must have felt on top of the world.

Due to Covid, there was no racing in 2020 and it was very disappointing not to be able to defend my International Six Day Enduro title. So when the opportunity to race Dakar came up we jumped at it, thanks to KTM and sponsors such as Fox and Simford. Though it wasn’t until we got to Saudi Arabia that I began to fully appreciate the enormity of the event. Then, to finish so close to a podium, I was pumped.

You won your first Rally Raid at Sonora – a race that teammate Matthias Walkner described as “a slalom through the cacti”.

Sonora wasn’t all WRC-style tracks; there was a mix of rough country and lots of tricky navigation. By that time I’d settled into rally and thanks to Aussie mates Anthony Giles and Ben Grabham – who’d earlier flown to Saudi to help set my bike up – I was able to focus on my navigation to take the win. It was a bit of a relief to tick that box.

Weeks later, you crashed in practice for the Finke Desert Race, breaking your femur and stopping your preparation for the 2023 Dakar Rally.

That was a bummer. I’d only just recovered from a series of five surgeries on my elbow and was suffering a bout of food poisoning. It was a mental struggle to stay in the top 10 knowing I had no chance of a win but, after crashing out in 2022, I was determined to finish this one, if only to prove my resilience.

The well-publicised tight battle between Toby Price and Kevin Benavides – with Skyler Howes on the final podium – seemed to justify KTM’s strategy that the more entries the better the chance of victory.

I’m no marketing genius, but other than the plastics, the KTM, Husqvarna and GasGas are all similar and took five of the top seven places, so I guess the marketing team were happy.

Stretching resources over three teams didn’t pay a dividend in 2024. For the first time in three decades KTM didn’t score a podium, followed by withdrawal from the Rally Raid Championship.

We all knew we were off the pace and by April we were over in California testing to provide some input for the design guys but seemed to be going nowhere. I said that if we didn’t fix the problem, we were going to get our arses kicked again at Dakar. Back in Austria they probably screwed their faces up a bit, but it seemed they acknowledged that it wasn’t the riders that needed a fix.

Yet the Ruta 40 Rally in June was totally dominated by Honda. KTM was a no-show and neither you nor Sam Sunderland were on the pace.

At that point we were still on the 2024 Dakar-spec bikes, which only confirmed our problem. It was dangerous to attempt to match the pace of the Hondas.  Luciano Benavides crashed out, breaking his femur, Sam Sunderland pulled out and it was frustrating for me to be hosed by a bunch of local amateurs.

Though big changes were taking place, we understand.

Two weeks after Ruta 40 we were in Spain testing some new parts – some positive, some not so – but at least I felt we were communicating a lot better and that I was having some input. Then, after the technicians had done their bit, we did some extensive testing at the end of August where I was more nervous than I’d ever been in my career.

Only four years earlier I was the new kid on the block, on a team with three former Dakar winners (Price, Sunderland and Walkner), so I didn’t have much to contribute. Though the announcement was yet to come, KTM had already decided on an all-orange team of four for the 2025 Dakar. Kevin Benavides was still carrying a critical wrist injury, his brother Luciano was still nursing a broken femur, and Sam Sunderland had retired from racing. I was the only fully-fit rider testing the changes.

You must have felt a big weight on your shoulders?

After all the difficulties and discussions over the past two years, it was all down to what I said about the bike. Did I know what I was talking about or not? It could have a huge impact on my career. Thankfully the techs had come up with a solution that eliminated most of the problems we’d identified; a gamechanger. The guys had worked their butts off. For the next three days, I’d never smiled so much on a bike.

From desperation in Argentina to jubilation in Morocco.

With only a week’s practice before the Rallye du Maroc, I was super confident we could reward everyone’s efforts with a win. Our 1-3 result only boosts the team’s confidence heading to Dakar.

Six weeks out from Dakar 2025, what’s next on the agenda?

We fly to California late November for final bike set-up and road-book training on the new electronic tablets. Then it’s over to Saudi Arabia to acclimatise. I reckon I’ve got a further six years in Rally Raid – but I really believe this year we’ll put KTM back on the top step of the podium.