Sam Sunderland wins 2022 Dakar Rally for GasGas

A new manufacturer has been added to the list of Dakar Rally champions, with GasGas Factory Racing pilot Sam Sunderland claiming overall victory in the 2022 edition in Saudi Arabia.

Sunderland previously won the Dakar Rally in 2017 while racing for the Red Bull KTM Factory Rally Team, when the race was still based in South America.

“This feeling, knowing I’ve won a second Dakar, will stay in my memory forever,” said Sunderland. “This win feels better than the first as this victory was anything but easy.”

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The British rider finished the final stage in eighth position but his consistency over the course of the two-week race was enough to give GasGas its first Dakar Rally win.

It finished a bittersweet Dakar for the KTM-backed team, which lost its other rider, Australian Daniel Sanders, to injury on Stage 7. Sanders had already won two stages and was in the hunt for the overall victory alongside his teammate.

Honda’s Pablo Quintanilla finished second overall, just three minutes behind Sunderland, while former winner Matthias Walkner (KTM) finished third.

Australian Toby Price had a solid, but unlucky Dakar Rally. The two-time champion finished 10th overall, but was able to collect a stage win and a second place in the second week of the race.

Red Bull KTM has failed to win Dakar for three years in a row after 18 straight victories, but GasGas’s win does provide a slight reprieve. The Spanish brand is part of the KTM Group, and runs very similar bikes to its Austrian counterpart. Its win sees the Dakar title return to the KTM organisation after Honda's two year reign.

Another Australian rider, Andrew Houlihan, withdrew from the race following an injury sustained in Stage 5. It was his second Dakar Rally after finishing 50th in 2021.