GASGAS 2023 Attack on Dakar
With GASGAS Factory Racing receiving official backing from Red Bull ahead of the 2023 season, Sam Sunderland and Daniel Sanders are all set to take part in the 2023 Dakar Race.
Newly crowned FIM World Rally-Raid Champion Sam Sunderland will fight to defend his Dakar title, while young Australian driver Daniel Sanders will look to prove his point and make his mark once again in the world’s toughest off-road cycling competition.
Both Sam and Daniel showed outstanding speed in Saudi Arabia last January, but each has had a very different season this year, but both are 100% committed to enjoying the race. 45th of the iconic race and will finally give it their best.
With unquestionable speed, especially when traversing the dunes seen in the first week of the 2022 Dakar Grand Prix, Daniel Sanders is ready to fight for a podium result. Disappointingly, the collision that kept him out of the event resulted in broken elbows and wrists – injuries that unfortunately took longer than expected to heal. Despite having to undergo several additional surgeries throughout the year, Sanders is now almost completely healthy and once again headed for success in Dakar.
Having won two races at the 2022 event, Daniel joins the upcoming Dakar with more experience, a better understanding of what can happen from the extreme terrain, as well as the skills and confidence it takes. needed to open the stages of the two-week race. With very little pressure on his shoulders, Sanders will aim to rock things in his own unique way as the flag begins to drop in just over a month.
Daniel Sanders
“After this year’s Dakar and of course crashing on the seventh stage, I’ve had a long year of surgery and trying to get back in shape. I had a lot of bad luck with my recovery and things didn’t go very well, but fortunately everything is fine now and I’m back on the bike.
“It will be challenging to take part in one of the toughest races in the world without a lot of cycling time. The focus so far has been on getting my elbows strong enough to get through Dakar and the rest of the 2023 season.
“The team has been great, and I am getting stronger all the time. It’s been a bit rough with Dakar being my first race back in a season, but my plan is to take it day by day and hopefully build things up as the event progresses. It’s a long race, but the goal is definitely to fight well to the finish.”
Sam’s 2022 Dakar Rally victory was the start of a hugely successful year for the Briton. Following Dakar, he traveled to the United Arab Emirates for the second round of the world championship and quickly asserted his supremacy there with another convincing victory.
A top five finish at the Rallye du Morocco sent Sunderland up to a second world title of his career. And with another strong showing at the final round in Spain, where the RX 450F racer finished in another calculated fifth place, the job was done and Sam was crowned the FIM World Champion. Rally-Raid 2022.
Now that he’s deeply engaged in his training and focused on the main task at hand – defending the Dakar Rally title – Sam is fully aware of the challenge that awaits. But as always, the two-time champion Dakar will give his all and fight hard to win the world’s toughest race.
Sam Sunderland
“This season has been amazing. To get the double – victory in Dakar and the world championship – was amazing. It took a lot of work for both me and the team, but it paid off. Now, entering Dakar 2023, I know exactly what it takes to win.
“The first time I won the race in 2017, I put myself under a lot of pressure to win again a year later. The 2023 race is considered to be one of the toughest races ever and I have no illusions about what that means. Now my thinking is a little different – my plan is to go out there and enjoy it, take each day as it comes and try to maintain a good tempo throughout the event. Hopefully near the end of the two weeks we’ll be in a good position to fight for the top spots again..”
The Dakar 2023 race starts on December 31, 2022 and includes 14 stages through the deserts of Saudi Arabia before ending on January 15, 2023.
