Press Release | December 22, 2022
The pinnacle off-road race kick-starts the new year in Saudi Arabian dunes.
Toby Price from Red Bull KTM Factory Racing testing in Merzougha for Rally Dakar 2023, Morocco on October 23, 2022. Photo by Kin Marcin / Red Bull Content Pool
Here is a selection of from Red Bull’s preview of its racers for the 2023 edition of Dakar:
About the Dakar Rally
– The Dakar Rally is the pinnacle of the Rally Raid calendar. Rally raid, also known as cross-country rallying, is a form of long-distance off-road racing that takes place over several days.
– The Dakar Rally adventure has its origins in 1977 when French motorcycle racer Thierry Sabine got lost on his motorbike in the Libyan desert during the Abidjan-Nice Rally. After navigating his way out of the desert, the Frenchman was determined to design a race that drew on his experience with a route starting in Europe, continuing to Algiers and crossing Agadez before eventually finishing at Dakar. Since that time, the Dakar Rally has evolved from racing in Africa to South America and now to Saudi Arabia.
– The race consists of one stage per day comprising at least one “special” stage each (several hundred kilometres long), which may be on or off-road. The total distance covered is several thousand kilometers. The event takes place over a period of ten to fifteen days.
– The classification of the stage is made up of the times set in the special stage plus any sporting penalties. The race requires precise navigation, which is done via a roadbook provided by the organizers and handed out at the start of each stage.
– The starting order of each special will be based on the times set in the timed sector of the previous stage, including any sporting penalties (e.g. for speeding in link sectors or missing waypoints) incurred during the stage.
– The 2023 Dakar Rally will be the longest route since 2014 participants will tackle 5,000 kilometers of specials into a prologue and 14 stages. The Prologue Stage launches on December 31, 2022, in Yanbu by the Red Sea with the field looking to make it all the way across – loaded with more dunes and potential pitfalls than ever before—to Dammam on the Arabian Gulf for a January 15 finish.
Toby Price, Kevin Benavides and Matthias Walkner from Red Bull KTM Factory Racing testing in Merzougha for Rally Dakar 2023, Morocco on October 23, 2022. Photo by Kin Marcin / Red Bull Content Pool
Matthias Walkner from Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. Photo by Kin Marcin / Red Bull Content Pool
Kevin Benavides from Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. Photo by Kin Marcin / Red Bull Content Pool
The 2023 Dakar Rally Red Bull Athletes
– Motorsport’s toughest test of endurance racing sees the Red Bull Desert Wings squad of champions and fresh-faced talents preparing to push themselves to the limit over the grueling sands of Saudi Arabia.
– Defending Dakar and FIM World Rally-Raid Championship bike champion Sam Sunderland (GBR) will represent Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing as he targets a third Dakar victory. He declared: “The 2023 race is looking to be one of the toughest ever. I’m under no illusion as to what that means.”
– Also riding with Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing is Daniel Sanders (AUS) who scored fourth in 2021 with two-time Dakar winner Toby Price back on his KTM 450 Rally bike. The Australian said: “The terrain in Saudi Arabia makes the rally very fast. Some stages are a sprint to the finish.”
– Red Bull KTM Factory Racing also boast former champions Matthias Walkner (AUT) and Kevin Benavides (ARG), while Štefan Svitko (SVK), Mohammed Balooshi (ARE) and Camille Chapelière (FRA) lineup, too.
Red Bull Athlete Participants Bikes List:
#1 – Sam Sunderland (GBR) – Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing
#18 – Daniel Sanders (AUS) – Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing
#8 – Toby Price (AUS) – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
#52 – Matthias Walkner (AUT) – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
#47 – Kevin Benavides (ARG) – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
#25 – Mohammed Balooshi (ARE) – MX Ride Dubai
#26 – Camille Chapelière (FRA) – Team Casteu
#142 – Štefan Svitko (SVK) – Cross Team
