Daniel Sanders has followed up his stunning motorcycling victory at the Dakar Rally with another triumph in the desert that is propelling him towards becoming a world champion.
The Australian endurance rider, known within the biking world as 'Chucky', sealed victory in the week-long Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge on Thursday less than six weeks since his landmark Dakar triumph over the dunes of Saudi Arabia.
The Abu Dhabi race was the second in the season-long, five-race World Rally-Raid Championship and Sanders' triumph, featuring two stage wins, was as convincing as it had been in the Dakar, where he became only the second Australian winner.
"This one is a really great victory to tick off as last time I was here, I lost out on the win on the final day which was tough," said the 30-year-old Victorian, who was winning his third successive rally after Dakar and the last big event of 2024, the Rally of Morocco.
"I felt great all week and it's pretty cool to go three in a row.
"It's been a long few years, and to keep ball rolling like this, yeah I didn't think I was gonna ride this well and feel this comfortable. So that's a good sign for the rest of the year."
On his Red Bull KTM, Sanders was protecting a substantial 7minute 23seconds lead going into the fifth and final stage after regaining the advantage on the penultimate stage with a brilliant ride.
Setting off first from Mezeer'ah on the 167km run to Abu Dhabi, Sanders was presented with the extra navigation difficulties that come with leading off a stage, but he never liked likely to relinquish his advantage as he ended up finishing fourth behind Spanish stage winner Tosha Schareina.
Sanders ended up finishing 5min 47sec clear of runner-up Ricky Brabec, America's two-time Dakar winner, to become the first man since Britain's Sam Sunderland in 2022 to complete the same-year 'desert double' of Dakar and Abu Dhabi.
Sunderland went on to win the world title that year and Sanders is now in a strong position to emulate him with a maximum 63 points after two events, which puts him 17 points clear of Schareina and 26 ahead of Brabec, with three rounds still to go.
The next leg of the Championship will be the South African Safari Rally from May 18-24, with the Portugal Rally (22-28 September) and the Rally of Morocco (10-17 October) to follow.
