Sam Sunderland wins Dakar Stage 11 - cuts Benavides' lead in last-gasp victory bid

By Press Release on 14th Jan 21

Rally Sam Sunderland Dakar Matthias Walkner

Red Bull KTM Factory Racings Sam Sunderland has won stage 11 of the 2021 Dakar Rally. Putting in an impressive performance through the demanding 464km timed special, the Brit made up over six minutes on his rivals and now lies second overall in the provisional standings.

KTM Factory Racings Daniel Sanders enjoyed another strong stage finishing in fourth, with Matthias Walkner less than one-minute behind in fifth.

Despite being shortened from its original 511km to 464km, the timed special on stage 11 still proved to be hugely challenging for all competitors. Featuring close to 100km of dunes as well as fast tracks through tricky-to-navigate canyons, the penultimate stage of the Dakar tested the already-exhausted riders to their limits.

Third overall coming into todays stage and with an advantageous start position of eighth, Sam Sunderland set off 15 minutes behind the rally leader with every intention of chasing him down. Knowing the long special offered a great chance to improve his position in the overall classification, Sunderland made the best use of his speed and experience to close in on his rivals.

Taking the lead of the stage by the fourth checkpoint at kilometre 215, the Brit remained in front on time from there to the finish. Although a small navigational error cost him some minutes in the final kilometres, Sam claimed the win on the stage and did enough to move himself up to second in the provisional overall standings.

"I gave my all today I knew this stage would be one of the best chances I had to make up time on the guys in front," said Sunderland.

"Its great to win the stage, but it means I have to open tomorrow for the last day, which will be hard. Still, anything can happen as we know, and Ill keep fighting right to the end.

"Its been another really long, tough stage but Im grateful to be able to just race my bike through the desert, especially with everything that is going on in the world at the moment. Im grateful to my team too for all the hard work they have put in to get us here. The plan now is to do my best again tomorrow and well see where we are."

Continuing to push and climb up the standings, Matthias Walkner put in an impressive ride on the days challenging stage to claim fifth place and with it elevate himself to 12th overall. Just outside the top 10 going into the final day of racing, despite losing over two hours back on stage two, Walkner now hopes to claw back even more time on tomorrows stage 12.

"It was another really long day, but Im super happy to be ready for the last stage now," said Walkner. "I was quite happy with my riding, but I was a little nervous with Sam and Daniel behind me because they are both fighting for the top positions and I didnt want to make too much dust. I got a bit lost and let them past and then from there, we rode together to finish with quite a good speed. Overall, the day was good fun and Im happy to be here at the finish."

Another strong day of racing in the dunes saw KTM Factory Racings Daniel Sanders complete a fourth stage at the 2021 Dakar inside the top five. Not only that, but the rally rookie finished just eight and a half minutes down on the flying Sunderland. As such, he moves up to a highly commendable fourth in the provisional overall standings. With one final stage remaining, the young Australian is looking forward to Fridays short stage 12 and hopefully the chance to successfully complete his first-ever Dakar Rally.

"I started really well this morning with my navigation and managed to make up a lot of time by the first refuelling stop at about kilometre 150," said Sanders. "After that I was in the dust from the guys in front a little and just had to focus on my road book. Sam caught us, so I let him lead through the dunes and then coming into the last part of the stage there was some really tricky navigation.

"I think its been my favourite stage of the event so far, we did some really cool stuff riding between the canyons and then into the dunes. Its been a difficult race, but Im feeling good, and all being well Im looking forward to finishing my first Dakar tomorrow.

The 2021 Dakar Rally concludes with Fridays stage 12. Competitors will once again face a long day in the saddle covering a total of 452km from Yanbu to the finish line at Jeddah. A relatively short timed special of 225km will give riders the chance to make a final push and improve on their results in time to take the checkered flag. The stage could still throw up a few surprises however with tricky to negotiate dunes combined with technical navigation testing racers for one last time at this years event.

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