REPORT - 2023 DAKAR RALLY - JUST BIKES

REPORT - 2023 Dakar Rally

Words: Mike Ryan

Photos: Red Bull Content Pool, KTM, Husqvarna, GasGas

KTM, the dominant force in the motorcycle division at the annual Dakar Rally from 2001 to 2019, was back to its best this year. Defeated by Honda and GasGas in the past three years, KTM triumphed in 2023, achieving a 1-2 result.

With Yamaha out of the Dakar, the Red Bull Factory KTM Racing team had one less rival to deal with this year, but was still up against factory squads from Husqvarna, GasGas, Honda, Sherco and Hero.

The Red Bull Factory KTM Racing ‘s rider lineup consisted of Toby Price, Matthias Walkner (3rd place last year) and Kevin Benavides, all of whom were past winners, with Monster Energy Honda Team’s four rider squad also boasting a past winner in Ricky Brabec, alongside Adrien van Beveren, Jose Ignacio Cornejo and last year’s runner-up, Pablo Quintanilla.

Husqvarna Factory Racing’s two-rider lineup comprised Skyler Howes and Luciano Benavides, while Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing retained their pairing from 2022 in Daniel Sanders and last year’s winner, Sam Sunderland.

Former Yamaha factory team riders Franco Caimi and Ross Branch secured a ride with Hero Motorsports Team Rally this year, alongside Sebastian Buhler, while the Sherco Factory team lineup was made up of Lorenzo Santolino, Koitha Veettil Harith Noah and Rui Goncalves.

These factory riders were part of 121 total entries in this year’s motorcycle category and 603 competitors overall.

Week One in the Sun – and Rain

Following a short prologue on New Year’s Eve, riders faced 4,706km of timed special stages and 8,549km in total for the 15-day marathon that kicked off on 1 January.

Stage 1, a loop of the ‘Sea Camp’ bivouac on the Red Sea coast, proved disastrous for Sunderland, who crashed less than 60km in. With a fractured shoulder blade, last year’s winner was out, leaving his Aussie team mate Sanders to fly the flag for GasGas.

American privateer Mason Klein was fastest on this opening stage, but a time penalty saw the win go to Brabec, ahead of Kevin Benavides and Price.

While winning a stage has tactically been a bad move in the past, new rules for this year’s Dakar meant riders who passed through checkpoints first or won stages were rewarded with time bonuses. However, this had to be weighed up against the potential for losing crucial minutes through navigation errors when opening a stage.

Klein would win Stage 2, a tricky 430km special filled with rocks, narrow trails and dunes, taking the overall lead ahead of Price and former factory Honda rider, Joan Barreda.

Similar terrain made up Stage 3, but with more dunes and rain adding to the challenge. In these conditions, Brabec crashed and would retire, while Sanders won ahead of Howes and Klein. Sanders also inherited the overall lead from Klein, while Price dropped to sixth.

The rain that impacted Stage 3 was gone by Stage 4, a mostly flat and fast 425km special that was won by Barreda ahead of Quintanilla. Sanders finished the day eighth but retained the overall lead.

Stage 5 was a second consecutive loop of dunes beyond Ha’il, but using a different route and slightly shorter at 374km. The previous day’s winner, Barreda, crashed on this day and needed assistance. Sanders, suffering with illness, could only finish 21st on the stage, which dropped him to eighth overall. Van Beveren won this stage (his first since 2018), while Howes inherited the overall lead, followed by Price and Kevin Benavides.

More sand was on the menu for Stage 6, and even with rain shortening the special by 100km, riders had to cover 876km in total. It was a sweet day for Husqvarna, with Luciano Benavides winning the stage and Howes extending his lead in the overall.

The rain that had been a factor in previous days increased ahead of Stage 7 and was deemed to be dangerous, so the special was cancelled for the bikes and quads, leaving the riders to cover the 461km to the night's bivouac on sealed roads.

Stage 8, a loop of Al Duwadimi and the last stage before the rest day in Riyadh, had the timed special shortened to 345km, but it still challenged the riders, particularly Luciano Benavides, who lost time with navigation issues. Klein was yet again robbed of the stage win by a time penalty, which meant Branch won the stage (the first for Hero). Despite this, the 21-year-old American joined Kevin Benavides in moving to within 13 seconds of Howes’s overall lead.

At the rest day, Price was fourth overall and Sanders seventh.

Sand, Sand and more Sand

For the second week of the 2023 Dakar, riders had shorter stages ahead of them, but some of those stages would be in the ‘Empty Quarter,’ a huge, featureless desert in southern Saudi Arabia.

Before they reached that, riders had to conquer Stage 9, which caught out Barreda, a crash ending his rally. Flash flooding added to the drama on this day, but Luciano Benavides triumphed, breaking the chain of different winners on each stage up to this point. Howes retained his overall lead, but Price had moved up to second, just 3 seconds behind the leader.

Stage 10 was the first of four days in the Empty Quarter, with seemingly endless dunes for most of the 114km special. Branch is used to such conditions, as he trains in the Kalahari Desert of his native Botswana, so won the special that was as much a test of navigation as it was of riding skill and stamina. Van Beveren was second, followed by South African Husqvarna privateer Michael Docherty.

Sanders’s yo-yo stage results continued, finishing eleventh on the first day in the Empty Quarter after taking a second on Stage 8. Price dropped to third overall after a bad day by his standards, but remained within striking distance of Howes and new overall leader, Kevin Benavides.

Stage 11’s special, consisting of 273km of steep dunes and flat chotts (dry lake beds), would also be a ‘marathon’ stage, ie. without team assistance at the night’s bivouac. Luciano Benavides won the stage, while older brother Kevin ceded the overall lead to Howes. Price moved up to second overall (28 seconds behind Howes) on this day, Sanders improved to seventh and Klein was now the only non-factory rider inside the Top Ten, finishing the day ninth overall.

More dunes and more chotts on Stage 12 meant a mix of grunt and outright speed was needed on the 185km special, which Cornejo achieved to take his first stage win of this year’s rally, ahead of Sanders and Price. More importantly for Price, his Stage 12 result meant he took the overall lead for the first time since the prologue, but the margin over Howes was only 28 seconds.

The penultimate stage of the 2023 Dakar exited the Empty Quarter, en route to the finale at Dammam on the Persian Gulf coast. Despite finishing fifth on this stage, Price seemed to be on track to add a third Dakar title to his triumphs in 2016 and 2019.

Kevin Benavides was the big improver on this day in the dunes (and gravel), winning the special and closing to within 12 seconds of Price – the closest margin ever in Dakar’s motorcycle category going into the final day. The good result for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing was soured by a heavy crash for Walkner that ended his rally.

The fourteenth and final stage of the 45th edition of the Dakar was a short 136km special along the coast, with mud and sand proving no barrier to the riders hitting their limited 160km/h top speed.

Benavides had only seconds to make up, and having achieved that by the first checkpoint, didn’t slow down, leaving it all up to Price, the last rider to start the stage. The Argentine’s pace proved too much for the Aussie, with Price ultimately finishing 43 seconds behind Kevin Benavides; the closest ever finish in the Dakar’s motorcycle category.

“I just focused on every kilometre from the first to the last,” Benavides said. “I didn’t think about the position or the result I just gave 100 percent over the whole stage.

“This year’s rally has been one of the closest ever and there wasn’t a single day where you could afford to ease off.”

Despite losing by an agonisingly close margin, Price was gracious in defeat: “A great job from Kevin, he did really well today.

“Obviously, the goal is to win, and it’s frustrating to miss out by such a narrow margin. But I’m fit, healthy, and I’m going home with a trophy, so that’s the most important thing.”