Briton Sam Sunderland (KTM), 32, won his second Dakar rally-raid on a motorcycle in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) on Friday, after a first success in 2017 in South America.
He is ahead of the Chilean Pablo Quintanilla (Honda) and the Austrian Matthias Walkner (KTM).
Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren (Yamaha) finished just off the podium.
The first British biker to win the Dakar, Sunderland had already nearly doubled the lead in 2019, but he finished 3rd behind his teammates Toby Price and Matthias Walkner, and again in 2021, when he finished 3rd again in the wake of Kevin Benavides and Ricky Brabec.
This winter, he started a new adventure.
After six contested editions with the Red Bull KTM factory team, he joined the official GasGas team.
This questioning was therefore fruitful.
In a particularly eventful edition, Sunderland, leader of the general classification during the first week, animated the passing of arms of the last days to finally take back the first place from his brother-in-law Van Beveren - Sunderland is married to the sister of the French driver - only the day before arrival.
The cars are expected around 9:50 a.m. French time.
Qatari Nasser al-Attiyah (Toyota) should logically win his fourth Dakar, after his victories in 2011, 2015 and 2019.
