Anything short of a Dakar victory is a disappointment for the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team. In 2001, Team Orange wrestled its first Dakar win from the competition. It wouldn’t relinquish its grip on the title for another 19 years. By then, Austrian rider Matthias Walkner already shot to the top of the Dakar field once, and Australian Toby Price notched two victories. That all changed in 2020, though.
Riding for Honda, Ricky Brabec stunned the rally world when he became the first American rider to win the World’s Toughest Race. In the process, he snapped KTM’s nearly two-decade Dakar run. If anyone believed that Honda’s winner’s circle return was just a case of good fortune, Kevin Benavides put those doubts to rest.