2017 Dakar Rally – Stage 12: Victory Goes to Sunderland

That’s it. The 2017 Dakar Rally is finally over, with Stage 12 concluding today in the capitol city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. With a short 64km timed special, the results were unlikely to change much, barring some sort of unexpected catastrophe.

Anything can happen in the Dakar Rally, and in what was billed as the toughest edition of this iconic race, we bet there were still some nervous hands during today’s session.

Two stages of the 2017 Dakar Rally had already been cancelled, and we had already seen top riders withdraw from this competition, namely KTM’s Toby Price, who dropped out while leading the Dakar, and Husqvarna’s Pablo Quintanilla, who withdrew while in second place.

As such, there was much delight when KTM’s Sam Sunderland not only finally finished his first full Dakar Rally, but did so by standing on the top step. Finally bucking his bad luck, Sunderland does so by also being the first British Dakar Rally winner, in any category.

The victory is also KTM’s 16th-straight Dakar Rally win, marking the occasion with an all-orange podium, as Matthias Walkner and Gerard Farres finished second and third behind Sunderland overall, respectively.

In fourth place is surely a frustrated Adrien van Beveren, the Yamaha rider finished just 48 seconds behind Farres, which is extra disappointing considering the one-minute penalty he received during Stage 11.

That is a tough break for the factory Yamaha team, though it shows that the Japanese manufacturer is a true contender now in the Dakar Rally.

The same can be said of Honda Racing, with the Monster Energy Honda Rally team showing tremendous potential as well, throughout the 2017 Dakar Rally.

If it had not been for a one-hour time penalty for a refueling mistake during Stage 4, Honda would have had two riders, Joan Barreda and Pablo Gonçalves, in winner’s contention. They finished fifth (+43 minutes) and sixth (+52 minutes) behind Sunderland, respectively.

We can expect Honda to be a strong contender in future editions of the Dakar Rally, and despite this year’s result, the racing through the rally raid showed that KTM’s dominance is no longer assured.

There are four manufacturers now capable of winning this iconic race, which bodes well for the future.

Top 15 from Stage 12 – Río Cuarto to Buenos Aires:

Pos.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Time
1	VAN BEVEREN Adrien	FRA	Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team	Yamaha	30’29
2	FARRES Gerard	SPA	Himoinsa Team	KTM	+0’0
3	BARREDA Joan	SPA	Monster Energy Honda Team	Honda	+0’18
4	WALKNER Matthias	AUT	Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team	KTM	+0’33
5	GONCALVES Paulo	POR	Monster Energy Honda Team	Honda	+1’25
6	SUNDERLAND Sam	GBR	Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team	KTM	+1’42
7	DUPLESSIS Martín	ARG	Asistencia Med	KTM	+2’16
8	SALVATIERRA Juan Carlos	BOL	Duust Rally Team	KTM	+3’00
9	METGE Michael	FRA	Monster Energy Honda Team	Honda	+3’01
10	CAIMI Franco	ARG	Honda South America Rally Team	Honda	+3’07
11	SANZ Laia	SPA	KTM Factory Racing Team	KTM	+3’08
12	KLYMCIW Ondrej	CZE	Klymciw Racing	Husqvarna	+3’12
13	RENET Pierre-Alexandre	FRA	Husqvarna Factory Rally Team	Husqvarna	+3’16
14	DE SOULTRAIT Xavier	FRA	Viltais Racing Team HFP	Yamaha	+3’25
15	PEDRERO Joan	SPA	Sherco TVS Rally Factory	Sherco	+3’28

Provisional Top 15 Overall Standings for the 2017 Dakar Rally:

Pos.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Time
1	SUNDERLAND Sam	GBR	Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team	KTM	32:06’22
2	WALKNER Matthias	AUT	Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team	KTM	+32’00
3	FARRES Gerard	SPA	Himoinsa Team	KTM	+35’40
4	VAN BEVEREN Adrien	FRA	Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team	Yamaha	+36’28
5	BARREDA Joan	SPA	Monster Energy Honda Team	Honda	+43’08
6	GONCALVES Paulo	POR	Monster Energy Honda Team	Honda	+52’29
7	RENET Pierre-Alexandre	FRA	Husqvarna Factory Rally Team	Husqvarna	+57’35
8	CAIMI Franco	ARG	Honda South America Rally Team	Honda	+1:42’18
9	RODRIGUES Helder	POR	Yamalube Yamaha Official Rally Team	Yamaha	+2:03’06
10	RODRIGUES Joaquim	POR	Hero Motorsports Team Rally	Hero	+2:19’37
11	SALVATIERRA Juan Carlos	BOL	Duust Rally Team	KTM	+2:22’53
12	KLYMCIW Ondrej	CZE	Klymciw Racing	Husqvarna	+2:23’30
13	PEDRERO Joan	SPA	Sherco TVS Rally Factory	Sherco	+2:32’46
14	METGE Michael	FRA	Monster Energy Honda Team	Honda	+2:38’32
15	DUPLESSIS Martín	ARG	Asistencia Med	KTM	+3:01’04