Image: Supplied.

Australia has a new Dakar Rally winner after Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Daniel Sanders clinched a commanding victory in the 2025 edition on Friday in Saudi Arabia.

Sanders, 30, follows in the footsteps of countryman and former KTM teammate Toby Price – winner of the 2016 and 2022 rallies – to win the notoriously tough Dakar event.

It was a dominant campaign from former Australian enduro champion and International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) winner Sanders, finishing P1 in the prologue two weeks ago and then maintaining his advantage from there. In total he won five of the 12 stages, matching Price’s total from 2016.

Sanders first switched to rally competition for his Dakar debut onboard a satellite KTM in 2021, before leading the GasGas Factory Racing program for the next few seasons. His best finish at the Dakar Rally was previously fourth in his first appearance, before injuries affected him in recent years.

The Victorian returned to the official KTM Factory Racing team late in 2024, winning the Rally du Maroc and now the Dakar – after claiming sixth on the final stage – with an overall time of 53h08m52s, positioning him 8m50s ahead of Monster Energy Honda HRC’s Tosha Schareina and teammate Adrien Van Beveren.