The Dakar 2019 has been an incredibly successful race for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, Toby Price, Matthias Walkner and Sam Sunderland occupy the podium positions with Price securing KTM their 18th consecutive victory at the iconic event. In what has been a superb display of riding, determination and bravery, Price has overcome all the odds to take a well-deserved win.

Breaking his wrist just weeks before the event put doubts on whether the 2016 Dakar winner would even complete the rally. Showing immense resolve, Toby took each stage as it came, riding consistently, and at the end of the 10-day event his perseverance paid off.

With just one more day to go as the 41st edition of the Dakar Rally comes to a close, Hero MotoSports Team Rally is poised well to post their third Dakar finish in a commendable position. Both Oriol Mena and Joaquim Rodrigues kept their nerves today and kept focus on finishing the penultimate stage of the Dakar 2019 without any incidents. Mena was in top form today as well, defending his position successfully to finish the stage 9 on 11th position.

Today’s solid finish takes him a notch above to 9th position in the overall rankings with only one more stage to go. Joaquim Rodrigues, fighting off a severe back pain from yesterday and despite a crash today, kept pushing himself in another dusty and fast stage to finish the stage 9 in the 19th position. With one more day to go, JRod is placed at 17th position in the overall rankings.

Dakar 2019 - Stage 10: Pisco > Lima - Liaison: 359km / 223 miles Stage: 112 km / 70 miles The last stage in the dunes of Pisco will be anything but a walk in the park for the competitors still in the race after what has been one of the toughest editions of the Dakar. The dune-heavy 112 km special will keep the leaders honest to the end!

Rest day is actually the wrong term for the Saturday at the Dakar, as participants are not really able to rest. The race cars must be stripped down completely, given a thorough check and prepared for the second half of the race. The mechanics already started this work as soon as the cars arrived yesterday evening.The MINI JCW Buggy and MINI JCW Rally crews have a very early start tomorrow. The first car leaves the bivouac and starts the leg back to Marcona at 03:30. A total of 810 kilometers lie ahead of the drivers – 290 of them against the clock.

Everyone is waiting in great suspense to see what week two of the Dakar brings with it. Many are expecting it to be even tougher. Stéphane Peterhansel – MINI JCW Rally: “There were good points and bad points to come out of the first week. The best thing is that we are currently lying second overall. Plus, David did a very good job. Five days, and we have never gone the wrong way. On the negative side, however, I have made too many mistakes.”