On the final stage of the Dakar Rally, KTM rider Matthias Walkner secured his third place overall in the motorcycle category and ended the prestigious tour on the podium for the fourth time. Sam Sunderland, who started this year for the KTM sister team GasGas, was crowned Dakar Champion in Saudi Arabia. It is the second Dakar title for the 32-year-old Brit after 2017.
“It’s an amazing feeling to be healthy at the finish line and on the podium. I’m really happy and I don’t cry for a second after the win,” explained Walkner from Salzburg. “There are so many long driving days where so much can happen. I know that from experience. The last two Dakar participations were very difficult and unfortunate for me.”
6:47 minutes behind
Sunderland finished the race with a total time of 38 hours and 47 minutes. After the last stage to Jeddah, Honda driver Pablo Quintanilla (Chi), who ultimately finished second, had a gap of three and a half minutes behind Sunderland over 680 kilometers, including 164 special stages. Walkner separated 6:47 minutes from his second triumph after 2018 (at that time still in Argentina). That’s bearable.
- Upper Austria today: Walkner third in Dakar Rally
“The last day of the race was very demanding again,” reported the Austrian, who was eighth in the day’s standings, which Quintanilla had secured. “I was aware that if I got lost, the podium could also be at risk. I found the rhythm well and then increased the pace a bit, but my primary goal was clearly the podium. Under normal circumstances, victory would be there anyway didn’t go out anymore,” Walkner said. His team “ripped open their buttocks, tried and tinkered a lot with the motorcycle. Of course it’s a dream that it all works out like this after almost 40 hours of driving,” said Walkner. “Now I have a Bedouin of all sizes at home,” he said happily. In 2017 and 2019, the 35-year-old was second in each case, and champion in 2018.
In the automobile category, Nasser Al-Attiyah celebrated a lights-to-flag victory and clinched the trophy for the fourth time. At the finish, the 51-year-old from Qatar in the Toyota had a lead of almost 28 minutes over the closest pursuer, nine-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb in the Prodrive BRX.
Al-Attiyah’s emphatic triumph moved up the all-time leaderboard to second place, level with four-time winner Ari Vatanen of Finland. Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel claimed 14 Dakar victories.
Source: Nachrichten
