2023 Dakar Rally champion Kevin Benavides is out due to injury after breaking his wrist in a training crash.
According to Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, the Argentine came off his KTM 450 Rally while riding in a test loop in the United States on Sunday, July 30.
Benavides underwent surgery on the broken lunate bone and ligament damage, and is said to be “recovering well,” according to KTM’s announcement of the injury.
However, he will miss his home round of the FIM World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC), the Desafio Ruta 40, which takes place on August 26-September 1.
Beyond that, there are no guarantees of when Benavides will return to competition, with another W2RC round in October and the 2024 Dakar Rally from January 5.
There, he would be aiming for a third victory in the world’s greatest offroad event, which he won with Honda in 2021 then beat KTM team-mate Toby Price by just 43 seconds just over six months ago.
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It is the latest injury blow for Benavides, who also broke a femur weeks after his most recent Dakar triumph.
KTM Rally Team Manager Norbert Stadlbauer said, “This is a terrible setback for both Kevin and the whole team, especially coming so soon after he worked incredibly hard to return to full fitness after breaking his femur back in February.
“Thankfully, it looks like the surgery to his wrist went well and Kevin is already on the road to recovery.
“Although, like with any injury, it’s difficult to predict when we’ll see Kevin back aboard his KTM 450 Rally, the team are of course 100 percent behind him and wish him a fast and complete recovery.”
Price, who won the 2019 Dakar Rally with a fractured wrist, leads the W2RC in the motorcycle division by seven points.
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