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Two-time Dakar champion Sam Sunderland will make his comeback in next week’s world championship round but Australian GasGas team-mate Daniel Sanders remains sidelined due to injury.
Sanders achieved a first round win in the World Rally-Raid Championship when the Sonora Rally unfolded in April but then had a “minor crash” while training in Australia in May which had major consequences.
The Victorian required surgery on a broken right femur and, according to Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing, is currently at the Red Bull Athlete Performance Center in Austria working on his recovery.
Sunderland, on the other hand, who crashed out of the Sonora event on Day 2, is now set to return to the field in Round 4 of the season, Argentina’s Desafio Ruta 40.
“Sonora was a bit of a scary one and also marked strike three for me this season in terms of finishing an event,” said the Briton, who broke a shoulder blade when he crashed out of Stage 1 of Dakar 2023.
“It’s all been a bit frustrating.
“I went back to London and had some checks on my knee which I was super worried about.
“Luckily, it was only a broken kneecap, and all the ligaments were okay. I got off lightly for the type of crash it was.
“We’ve had two good tests in the US since then so that’s helped my confidence. I got my feeling back and the freedom I like to ride with.
“For sure, the main goal here in Argentina has to be to finish, since I haven’t done so well in the first three races.
“But I’m here to race after all; I didn’t come to just explore the desert.
“I won my first Dakar here back when it was in Argentina, so flying into Buenos Aires, all the memories of that win came back.
“Definitely going to be a tough race, but I’m feeling good and looking forward to it.”
Fellow multi-time Dakar Rally champion Toby Price, who rides for sister team Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, currently leads the championship by a seven-point margin over Luciano Benavides with two rounds to go.
A prologue will be held in La Rioja on Sunday, August 27 before five stages totalling 2804km.
