(Reuters) -British motorcycle rider Sam Sunderland took his second Dakar Rally title after the ultimate stage of the occasion in Saudi Arabia on Friday.
The GasGas rider, who took his first title in South America in 2017, completed three minutes and 27 seconds forward of Chilean rider Pablo Quintanilla on a Honda. Austrian Matthias Walkner was third for KTM.
“I truthfully cannot be happier. This final stage was so troublesome and a lot stress,” mentioned the Dubai-based 32-year-old after the 164km stage from Bisha to Jeddah.
“A number of navigation, loads of tough notes, just a few instances a bit complicated and unsure if I used to be going the appropriate approach. Honestly, my head can explode. What a sense.
“The final 10 minutes, I used to be unsure whether or not I’d gained and now they’ve informed me and, wow, dream come true.”
The Dakar Rally started in 1978 as a race from Paris throughout the Sahara to the Senegalese capital however switched to South America in 2009 for safety causes.
One of motorsport’s most harmful and gruelling occasions, the rally moved to Saudi Arabia in 2020 and is now in its forty fourth version.
Sunderland is the one Briton to have gained the occasion in any class.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, Editing by Catherine Evans and Kim Coghill)
