Daniel Sanders (motorcyclist)

Last updated
Daniel Sanders
NationalityAustralian
Born (1994-08-30) 30 August 1994 (age 30)
Three Bridges, Victoria, Australia
Teams KTM, Gas Gas

Daniel Sanders (born 30 August 1994) is an Australian professional off-road and rally raid motorcycle racer. Known by the nickname "Chucky", he is most famous for winning the 2025 Dakar Rally.

Contents

Racing career

Sanders began his motorsport career at the age of 13, taking part in various enduro and motocross club races and later in various local Australian championships. Until moving up to the seniors, he was a top-3 rider, but was never able to take first place. In 2014, he won the Australian Enduro U19 class and finished sixth in the Australian Offroad Championship the same year. In 2015, Sanders finished fourth in the Australian Championship and second in the Enduro 3 behind Toby Price. In the same year, he won the FIM Junior World Trophy (Junior World Championship) with the Australian national team, won the junior class and finished 4th across all classes in the International Six Days Enduro. [1] [2]

In 2015 and 2019, Sanders was the winner of the E3 class and in 2018 he was the International Six Days Enduro champion. In 2017, he finished sixth in the Enduro 2 class of the Enduro World Championship and in 2018 he was the winner of Australia's biggest rally raid, the Hattah Desert Race. In 2019 he became Australian Enduro Champion. [3] In 2020, he finished eleventh in the Rally Andalusia and in 2021, third in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and fourth in both the Rallye du Maroc and the Silk Way Rally.

Sanders has been competing in the Dakar Rally since 2021, where he finished fourth overall and was named "Best Rookie" as a KTM privateer in 2021, and has been driving for the GasGas Factory Racing Team since 2022. At the 2022 Dakar Rally, Sanders won three of the six stages in the motorcycle class and was third overall at that time, until he was involved in an accident shortly before the start of the seventh stage special stage and had to retire from the rally. [4] At the 2023 Dakar Rally, Sanders won the third stage and led the overall standings until the fourth stage. He finished the rally in seventh place, 25 minutes behind, after suffering from food poisoning. [5] At the 2024 Dakar Rally, Sanders struggled with injuries, managing only a single stage podium in the prologue, and finishing 8th overall, nearly one and a quarter hours behind winner Ricky Brabec.

At the 2025 Dakar Rally, Sanders dominated the race from the initial prologue stage. He added further stage wins on Stages 1, 2, 4, and 7 and remained overall leader throughout the entire rally. He won the race with an advantage of just under 9 minutes and 15 minutes over Honda riders Tosha Schareina and Adrien van Beveren, respectively. [6] [7]

Career results

Rally Dakar results

YearClassVehiclePositionStage wins
2021 Bikes KTM 450 Rally 4th0
2022 GasGas 450 Rally Ret3
2023 7th1
2024 8th0
2025 KTM 450 Rally 1st5

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References

  1. ↑ "DANIEL SANDERS: DAS AUSSIE KID TRIUMPHIERT BEI DEN 90. INTERNATIONAL SIX DAYS ENDURO]". blog.ktm.com.
  2. ↑ "Daniel Sanders". rabaconda.com.
  3. ↑ "Daniel Sanders". gasgas.com.
  4. ↑ "Drama: Daniel Sanders muss operiert werden". speedweek.com.
  5. ↑ "Daniel Sanders (GASGAS): Dakar überlebt und stolz". Speedweek.
  6. ↑ "Dakar: Triumph for Sanders". www.fim-moto.com. 2025-01-17. Retrieved 2025-01-17.
  7. ↑ Pearson, Jon (2025-01-17). "2025 Dakar Rally Results: Red Bull KTM's Daniel Sanders takes maiden victory". Enduro21. Retrieved 2025-01-17.
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