A “last dance” for Walkner?

December 31 ^st 2022 - 12:00 [GMT + 3]

The “dream team” decked out in Red Bull colours is made up of three former Dakar winners. Kevin Benavides, the year’s most spectacular transfer, and his race plate number 1 are attracting most of the attention. Toby Price (the winner in 2016 and 2019) has also signed a new two-year contract. Both of them returned to competition last October for the Rallye du Maroc. On completion of this race, Matthias Walkner grabbed the title of world champion, even before the finale. “Hiasi” enjoys the status of life-long national hero in Austria since his triumph in 2018 but is coming to the end of his contract. Could this be a psychological advantage or disadvantage? “I think I don’t have so much pressure because I’ve had a really good season and I have the world championship title in my pocket, but of course our main goal is again to stay on the top in the Dakar. If I can continue again in a top three position it would be amazing. Right now, I feel super, super excited and motivated, I think more than ever, because it may be my last Dakar because my contract after this Dakar is finished”. Danilo Petrucci, recently retired from race circuits and a surprise guest who will enjoy the much sought-after status of official rider, is ready to seize the unique opportunity of a radical change in style, after the Italian’s 169 starts in the MotoGP discipline! However, this reconversion started in in an extraordinary manner, with a broken ankle on 8th December during training followed by an initial positive COVID test result on Saudi soil that was soon revealed to be a false positive after a blood test! The Italian has already started to feel the heat even before the desert, which he will discover in the coming days. Nevertheless, at the age of 31 years, the track biker can point to genuine off-road experience which perhaps may allow him to become the best rookie in 2022… “I started competing in motocross at the age of 8 years. When I was sixteen, I stopped and switched to speed circuit racing until last month. I’ve always done motocross and enduro in training, especially in the last two years. However, I’ll have to take it easy to begin with, because of my recent injury”.