Firing on all cylinders and fully recovered after his unfortunate crash at the Dakar, Red Bull GASGAS Factory Racing’s Sam Sunderland is about to rock up at the 2023 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and get his season back underway! The second round of the FIM World Rally-Raid Championship, the ADDC is a happy hunting ground for Sunderland who picked up the win in 2022 and the Brit’s heading into this year’s event fully focused on making it back-to-back victories. Good luck, Sam!
Sam Sunderland: “It’s always nice to come back to a race that you’ve been successful at, and I’ve won this one three times so coming in, the goal is to make it four! But it won’t be easy and as we all know; anything can happen in racing. I came out to this race quite early to put in some long days on the bike, just to make sure my body was all good which it was, and I felt great actually. So, I’m back to full fitness I would say and I’m looking forward to getting stuck in and finally get my season started properly.”
Frustratingly, after months of preparation, the 2023 season didn’t start so well for Sam Sunderland. Crashing out on stage one at the Dakar Rally was obviously a bitter pill to swallow but the good news is, the reigning FIM World Rally-Raid Champion is well past that disappointment and looking to make amends at the ADDC. Once again, the five-stage race will be set in the deep, rolling sand dunes surrounding Abu Dhabi and we know that Sam’s more than capable of picking up his fourth victory at the long-standing event.
Unfortunately, absent from the ADDC will be Sam’s teammate, Daniel Sanders. After gritting his teeth and pulling through with a courageous seventh-place finish at the Dakar, it turns out that the Aussie’s elbow injury from 2022 isn’t 100% healed. Now back home in Australia and doing all he can to fast-track his recovery, Sanders aims to return to racing later in the year. We miss you, Chucky!