line in one piece at the Dakar , and here we are , happy and healthy . Looking back over the week , we were never far off the pace , just made a few too many mistakes out there and , as you know , that can cost some serious time at Dakar . The whole Red Bull KTM team have been incredible over the two weeks and have worked so hard . It ’ s a shame we ’ ve not been able to reward them with a podium . Big credit to the top guys as well , they got it done this year , so congratulations to them .”
lot of respect for him ,” said GasGas Rally Team Manager , Andreas Hölzl . “ He ’ s basically had a year out of racing with different injuries which meant that he had lot of time off the bike . He ’ s just come back from a really difficult injury with his femur break , so to finish the Dakar after very little preparation shows how strong he is , mentally and physically .” Sanders hung in with the top riders throughout the rally , but this year had to settle with a top-10 finish . “ I didn ’ t expect to be here back in November so I ’ m really happy to finish another Dakar ,” Sanders said . “ It ’ s certainly been a challenge this year and I ’ ve missed a lot of racing during the last two years , so my goal now is to stay healthy , then return bigger and better next year . I ’ ll be doing everything I can to make that happen .” With the 46th edition of the Dakar Rally now etched into the history books , attention now turns to the second round of the World Rally Raid Championship . Round two heads to Abu Dhabi for the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge which revs into life on February 25 .
AUSSIE SANDERS GETS TOP TEN For the GasGas it was once again a shocker with Australian Daniel Sanders once again left as the team ’ s only rider after British rider Sam Sunderland was forced to retire due to a technical failure on stage three . Sanders was not on his usual frontrunning form after spending much of the season in the pits recovering from a broken femur , so for the Aussie to simply finish the gruelling rally was an achievement in itself . “ It was a really big challenge for Daniel to even line up at this year ’ s Dakar and I have a
36 KIWI RIDER