It was an exciting Dakar in 2022. The leadership changed several times, but in the end it is Briton Sam Sunderland who pulls the longest on his GasGas. He takes his second victory in the Dakar, after previous wins in 2017.
The 32-year-old Sunderland, who in addition to winning in 2017 was also on the podium twice (2019 and 2021), is of course satisfied: ”I couldn’t be happier. I thank everyone on the team. The last days were very stressful, with difficult navigation. But what a feeling! This wipes away all the difficult moments of the past few weeks. This victory is the culmination of hard teamwork, not to mention my family and friends.”
Sunderland literally fell in love with the desert when he went to visit family living in Dubai after a bad crash as a motocross racer after a year without riding. There he learned to plow through the loose sand. He made his Dakar debut in 2012 and five years later became the first Briton to win the Dakar on a KTM. This year he drove on a GasGas, from the same Austrian parent house. His season in 2021 was not a perfect preparation for this Dakar, because he had a bad fall in Kazakhstan and had to give up sick in Morocco.
Second place goes to Pablo Quintanilla on Honda and came third Mathias Walkner on KTM.
The best ‘lowlander’ was the Belgian Jerome Martiny, who entered the Dakar for the first time, on a Husqvarna on a 31ste place, just under 5 hours from winner Sunderland. Martiny turned out to be the fifth fastest newcomer, a great achievement indeed.
Dutchman Wiljan van Wikselaar (KTM) was the fastest Dutchman on the 44ste place at 9.21 am from winner Sunderland. Mirjam Pol (Husqvarna), was (obviously) the fastest woman from the Low Countries, on a 49ste spot, she also takes the Rally2 Women’s Trophy. Pol did two places and 13 minutes better than Belgium Mikael Despontin. And then there’s an honorable mention for it Mathieu Liebaert (Call/KTM) on the 57ste place.
During the 7the test left the sympathetic Belgian Walter Roelants the rally after a bad fall. Roelants has meanwhile been operated on in Belgium for his injuries and must remain in hospital for another week for observation, but can then recover from his injuries at home. It was Mathieu Liebaert who was the first on the scene of the accident and stayed with Roelants until he was transferred to the hospital.
Bram Van der Wouden (Ned) had to retire in the ninth test.
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