Australian motorcyclist Daniel Sanders has again made a superb start in his bid to win the Dakar Rally, powering into pole position after the prologue of the great race in the Saudi Arabian desert.
The 30-year-old from the Yarra Valley is now Australia's biggest hope for success in the brutally tough two-week event, with two-time bike winner Toby Price having moved from two wheels to four in a bid to take the car classification.
While Price and fellow former bike star Sam Sunderland teamed up with an excellent 12th-place finish on debut, Sanders demonstrated why he could be the one to emulate his old friend as he led the way in the bike classification at the start of his fifth Dakar outing on Friday.
Sanders, who's never finished higher than fourth at Dakar, is now riding for Red Bull KTM, the team which ditched Price last year after years of success, and is considered one of the race favourites, especially after winning the Rally of Morocco last October.
"It was good to get the nerves out of the system here on the prologue," said Sanders, who also took the prologue at the 2022 edition and was second last year.
"It was pretty clean, with a few mistakes, but that's what happens when you push a lot and miss some corners. The dangers sneak up on you because you're pushing the pace a little too much."
Sanders, known throughout the sport as 'Chucky', ended up 12 seconds quicker than Hero's Botswanan world champion Ross Branch and 19-year-old KTM Red Bull teammate Edgar Canet, from Spain.
Honda's defending champion, American Ricky Brabec, was well-placed, 18 seconds off the pace in fourth.
Australian Toby Hederics, on debut, ended up 33rd after a bright start.
The times from the 29km prologue around the south-western city of Bisha determined the starting order for Saturday's first 413km stage, but don't count towards the overall classification.
Toyota's Henk Lategan took the car prologue, ahead of Ford M-Sport's Mattias Ekstroem and five-times champion Nasser Al-Attiyah, with the Dacia Sandriders team.
Price and British colleague, two-time bike champ Sunderland, enjoyed what the 37-year-old Australian described as a "nerve-racking" debut for Overdrive Racing as they finished 44 seconds down.
"We've only done around 500km in the seat so we're still pretty green but we're pumped for tomorrow and the adventure ahead!" Price tweeted on X.
