“I'm expecting a long, hard and sandy Dakar!”

Mário Patrão endured bitter disappointment last year as he was forced to pull out of the Dakar at the last minute. Suffering with appendicitis, the Portuguese rider had to undergo emergency surgery in Viseu only days before the rally, which meant there was no possibility of him travelling to South America for a sixth consecutive tilt at the Dakar. The 42-year-old bounced back admirably, though, enjoying solid outings in Spain and Hungary and finishing second behind Mohammed Balooshi at the FIM Bajas World Cup. He also secured the national TT3 championship title at Baja Portalegre despite injuring his hand in Morocco. The KTM Factory Racing team rider will now be looking to make up for lost time as he targets a top-10 finish in the bikes. Mário is the most decorated Portuguese offroad rider in history, with over 25 national titles in offroad and enduro. Seeking a new challenge, he participated in the Dakar for the first time in 2013, where he managed a promising 30th place overall. After mixed results in 2014 and 2015, he claimed his best result to date in 2016, flying to 13th on a far more competitive KTM 450 Rally and even claiming victory in the Marathon class. A serious leg fracture later in 2016 upset his preparations for Dakar 2017, before the appendicitis kept him out last year -so the Seia native will just be looking forward to arriving in Peru problem-free ahead of this 2019 edition.

"It was very sad and frustrating not to be able to participate last year. We did a good job preparing but unfortunately, with the surgery, I wasn't able to start. The only thing I could do was keep my head up and carry on fighting. This year I was able to become TT3 national champion, which was one of our goals. The race involved a lot of fast tracks and tricky hazards, but luckily they didn't affect us. My sponsors are the driving force behind our team and they're the ones I'm fighting for. I'm expecting a long, hard and sandy Dakar! I will prepare in the same way as I did last year, and hopefully things will go better during the run-in so I can start this great rally in early 2019."