Red Bull KTM Racing Team all geared up for Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge

Michelle Liew

March 28, 2019

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing will be taking on the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge next, after finishing its run in the Dakar Rally. The 29th Abu Dhabi race program will be the opening this year’s FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship and riders will be battling for the win in the Liwa Desert. According to KTM Racing, Sam Sunderland has been gearing up for the race for months and trained with his KTM 450 Rally, apart from keeping himself busy with enduro and supercross events. “I always look forward to Abu Dhabi, it’s somewhat of a home race for me. I feel confident in the dunes there and have had some success in the race before with a win in 2017. It’s going to be tough and we’ll have plenty of competition. Unfortunately, some of my teammates won’t be there as they are recovering from injury after Dakar, but it’s good to see them on the mend. Training went well in Morocco recently and it’s great to have the team working together again. My plan for the race is to do my best for the team and myself, hopefully, come away with a good result and get the championship off to the perfect start,” said Sam Sunderland according to KTM Racing. Apart from Sam Sunderland, junior member Luciano Benavides has been serving impressive results on top of his quality performance. The Argentinian managed to finish within the top ten overall at the 2019 Dakar Rally. “I’m feeling really good right now, I took three weeks off after Dakar to relax and spend time with friends and family but it was soon time to start riding again. The recent test in Morocco went really well, it was useful for me to get back up to speed on the bike and improve my feeling in the desert. I hope my performance in Abu Dhabi will be like my second week at the Dakar – I want to get closer to the top guys and believe I have the experience and confidence to do this now. My goal for the season is to be near the top of both the junior world championship and the overall,” said the 23-year-old. KTM Rally Team Manager Jordi Viladoms is confident that the team is able to put up a good performance in Abu Dhabi despite being without their top racers Toby Price and Matthias Walkner.  “We’re really looking forward to this first race of the world championship. It’s a pity as a team that we don’t have our top-two Dakar finishers, Toby Price and Matthias Walkner, but Sam and Luciano are also very strong. Sam is especially fast in the dunes of Abu Dhabi and has won the event before. Testing went well last week in Morocco and we were able to do some good work setting up the bike and preparing the riders. It looks like the event will be quite tough as always, but I am confident of good results,” said Viladoms.