Daniel
Sanders
Australia
·
Enduro
Date of birth | 30 August 1994 |
|---|---|
Place of birth | Three Bridges, Victoria |
Age | 31 |
Nationality | Australia |
Career start | 2015 |
Disciplines | Rally Raid Bike |
Daniel Sanders loves nothing more than going really fast for as long as possible on a dirt bike. And he might just be better at this than any other person on the planet after dominating the 2025 Dakar Rally from start to finish.
With his dirt bike, the farm boy from the rural Victorian town of Three Bridges won stacks of things before he ever swung a leg over a true rally raid bike. After starting to race local motocross and enduro races aged 13, he's twice been the Australian off-road champion, scored FIM World Enduro Championship podium finishes and in 2018 the outright winner at the historic International Six Days Enduro, where he also won the individual E3 Class three times.
In 2018, Daniel took his first real step into the world of rally raid and showed his natural gift for riding flat-out across unforgiving desert spaces by winning Australia's biggest rally raid, the Hattah Desert Race. He signed with the KTM Factory Racing Rally Team in 2020, making the full time switch to rally raid racing, joining three-time Dakar champ and compatriot Toby Price in the process.
Looking to challenge the veterans with his speed, poise and consistency, Daniel enjoyed a memorable Dakar Rally debut in 2021 when he finished fourth overall – a brilliant result for anyone, let alone a rookie in the world's toughest motorsports race.
Daniel returned to Saudi Arabia in 2022 and won two stages of the Dakar before a crash during Stage 7 ended his challenge. He stayed the course in the following year’s event, winning Stage 3 and finishing in seventh place overall.
2024 would see Daniel once again finish the Dakar Rally, which he finished in eighth place overall, before dominating the North African dunes and winning the Rally du Maroc at the end of October after switch back to the factory KTM squad after three seasons with GASGAS.
That very much Daniel on the front foot for the 2025 Dakar, which he won for the first time in a total domination of the Bike class that saw him lead the field from the Prologue all the way to the finish line, winning five individual stages and securing an historic 20th win for KTM in the process.
The wins didn't stop coming after that, with Daniel collecting the Abu Dhabi Rally, the Safari Rally and Rally Raid Portugal victories to score the FIM World Rally-Raid Championship title as well. What a year!
Now he's broken his Dakar duck, expect more huge wins to come from Chucky very soon.