“No question, I learnt a lot this year”

Bradley Cox is none other than the son of thirteen-times Dakar participant Alfie, former member of the KTM factory team. At the tender age of fifteen, Bradley moved all on his own to Belgium to join a moto-x team. And the plan was working out OK until a series of injuries forced the then eighteen-year-old South African back home to recuperate. It was during this time that he got a taste for enduro racing, which led to him winning nine national titles. Bradley made his rally-raid debut with the BAS World KTM Racing team on the 2021 Rallye du Maroc. At the age of 23, he would have made an even bigger impression had it not been for getting lost on the first stage and the presence of another young teammate, Mason Klein. Third in Rally2 in Morocco, Bradley’s Dakar followed a similar scenario, though this time it wasn't a crash that prevented him from getting closer to the American revelation, but a fuel tank holed on stage 9. That incident saw him finish the day in 84th place, just as he was about to break into the top 15, and 25th overall in Jeddah. On the second round of the 2022 W2RC in Abu Dhabi, Bradley was once again unlucky while leading stage 2 in the Rally2 category. A bruise on his leg, though not serious, prevented him from continuing the race. On the 2022 Rallye du Maroc Cox finished 2nd in Rally2 behind Klein to move up to just 3 points behind third placed man Konrad Dabrowski. Then on the last round of the W2RC championship Bradley again finished second to take third in the Rally2 category of the W2RC. For 2023 Cox has his sights clearly set on winning the Rally2 class and using the experience he gained in 2022 to move up the overall rankings and secure a factory ride. A good result on the 2023 Dakar would be the perfect way of cementing those ambitions.

“No question, I learnt a lot this year. I was a little bit unlucky losing so much time on the Dakar and then DNFing in Abu Dhabi and in all modesty I don’t think my results reflected my true level. On the other hand finishing 3rd in the Rally2 championship, despite not finishing all the rounds, wasn’t too bad and if you look at my times you can see I was getting closer to Rally2 champ Mason Klein throughout the year. At the end of the season I had the option of moving up to RallyGP but after talking it over, in the end I decided to stay in Rally2. I’ll continue to rely on BAS World KTM Racing who are the next best thing to a full factory team and my goal for 2023 will be to take the W2RC Rally2 crown. As far as the 2023 Dakar is concerned I’d like to be regularly getting into the overall top 10 and would be happy with an overall finish in the top 12 and a win in the Rally2 class.”