This year’s Australian campaign in the Dakar highlighted the significant challenges the world’s most unique motorsport event provides.
This year, Australians Toby Price, Daniel Sanders, Andrew Houlihan and Molly Taylor partnered with experienced co-driver Dale Moscatt took on the 14 day epic.
A previous two-time winner of the Bike category, Price was unable to recover from navigation difficulties during the early stages of the event on his KTM.
Although compatriots, Sanders was one of the leader riders for GasGas and was placed well approaching the concluding days of the rally until he crashed during a liaison stage, resulting in a fractured left elbow and wrist.
“I had a crash yesterday on the road section, going to the stage,” he explained in a video posted to social media.
“Unfortunately, it was really dark in the morning, and on the highway/freeway there were two lanes. On the left, that was the fast lane normally, and they turned into like a U-turn and there was a big kerb.
“So, I was just about to pass a car, and then saw this coming up at me at 120km/h and then slammed the front brakes on.
“That just immediately dropped the front end and I slid across the road, around probably 110[km/h], and then collided with this kerb that was, I don’t know, maybe a foot off the ground or something.
“Really, really lucky to be alive.
“Thankfully, the team were right behind me and some riders that stopped.”
Price finished 10th outright after a troubling campaign after being unable to make up for lost time on Day 1 in what is a very different environment to that of South America where he secured his two Bike crowns.
“Losing time on that first day put me on the back foot a little for the rest of the stages, and the way things are now, any mistakes can lose you a lot of time on the others because things are so close,” said Price.
“The terrain here in Saudi makes for a really fast race too. A lot of the stages are sprints to the finish, but the atmosphere is good and it’s a good place to be.”
Houlihan was forced to withdraw after Stage 5 after a crash left him with fractured ribs.
For Taylor and Moscatt, it was an experience where everything from punctures to mechanical maladies challenged the duo racing a Can-Am, finishing 14th in SSV Class.
Drama with the braking system threatened to retire the team, but the pair’s determination ensured they finished their maiden Dakar.
“We only just made it to the finish, to be honest,” admitted Taylor.
“About 40, 50km in, the rear-right brake calliper seized, couldn’t really go very fast, and then all of a sudden the brakes went to the floor and we lost everything.
“[We] pulled over, brakes were on fire, ripped the camelback out, put out the fire with the camelback [water], managed to do that, managed to pull off the brake line so we could drive out, but basically 180km with next to no brakes.
“So, I feel like that was just the final adventure we needed to cap off our Dakar experience.”
Overall, Brit Sam Sunderland was victorious in the Bikes, while Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah took his fourth win in the Car Class driving a Toyota.