Sunderland wins 2017 Dakar Rally

KTM has claimed the trifecta in the 2016 Dakar Rally, with long-time leader Sam Sunderland the winner from factory teammate Matthias Walkner and privateer Gerard Farres Guell.

Sunderland is the first Briton to win the Dakar Rally on two or four wheels. He went into the final 64km timed special with 33-minute advantage on his 450 RALLY and the task of holding his nerve and getting the job done. He completed the stage in a comfortable sixth place and sacrificed only a couple of minutes. After almost 9000 km through Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina, he topped the overall timesheets with a total time of 32 hours, six minute and 22 seconds (32.06:22). Like Aussie Toby Price in 2016 – who crashed out of this year's event in stage four and broke his leg – Sunderland is now a first time Dakar Rally winner.

2017 DAKAR RESULTS

“When I crossed the line my emotions really took over. I've had a lot of weight on my shoulders for the last six days," said Sunderland. "Now it feels incredible. I have to say thanks to my team, the bike has been great from start to finish.

"When Toby (Price) went out of the race it was a blow to the team as he’s a good friend. Because of the strong bonds we have in our team it helped us to pull together and strive to do something special. There are a lot of fast guys that have the potential to win this race, I think cutting out the mistakes was the key to this win.”

It was also an excellent performance by Walkner, who exited in 2016 with a broken leg that kept him out of competition for much of the past season. He was under slightly more pressure on the run to the finish as he had two riders, Guell and Adrien Van Beveren (Yamaha), the eventual stage winner, in hot pursuit. Walkner finished fourth in the stage and was 33 seconds off the leading time, which was enough to preserve his position.

KTM first won the Dakar Rally in 2001 and has topped the podium every subsequent year, with the exception of 2008 when the race was cancelled on the eve of departure because of terrorist threats in North Africa.

The 2017 edition started in Paraguay, travelled to the high altitude regions of Bolivia and then south and east through Argentina. The already extraordinarily challenging two-week event, this year introduced new navigation and levels of difficulty. It was also plagued by extremes of weather – temperatures from 40 degrees Celsius to freezing, altitudes up to 4500m, torrential rains, flooding and in the last week, a massive landslide in Argentina that not only destroyed a village but left teams and vehicles trapped for 24 hours. The extreme weather conditions also resulted in two stages being cancelled and another two cut at the halfway mark of the timed special when flood waters made it impossible to continue.

Van Beveren finished fourth overall from Honda's Joan Barreda, who more stages than anyone else (four) but was hit with a one-hour penalty for a breaking a refuelling rule.

For a review of the car results, won by a former motorcycle legend, click here.