Australia’s Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders has clinched the 2025 FIM World Rally-Raid Championship after yet another masterful performance at the penultimate round in Portugal.
The 32-year-old Victorian’s fourth successive victory in 2025 – including, for the first time, the iconic Dakar Rally – saw him clinch the silverware with a round to spare.
He’s now the second Australian after Toby Price in 2018 to win the FIM World Rally-Raid Championship, completing the feat in Portugal after coming out hard in the prologue and then topping three of the five stages on his factory KTM.
“It’s a dream come true to win the world championship,” said Sanders.
“You think about it when you’re a kid no matter what sport you do, but I chose motorbikes, and it worked out really well. The race here has gone so well, and the bike has been perfect, so a massive thank you to the team for all the hard work they put in.
“It’s very rare to have this sort of consistency in rally as it’s often so unpredictable. But up to now, we’ve put in a perfect season, and we’ll still be aiming to carry that into (the final round in) Morocco.
“It’s still all sinking in really. I’m happy to get the world championship here in Portugal and hopefully, there’s a lot more to come.”
Sanders’ rally-raid success comes four years after he made the transition from enduro legend –
multiple Australian championships as well as individual and team honours in the International Six Days Enduro – to full-time desert racer.
His conversion was seamless, too, producing an extraordinary fourth as a rookie in the 2021 Dakar Rally. He then finished top-10 in two other editions of the event before his landmark victory in January this year.
His Dakar victory set the tone for what has been a flawless 2025 season of pace, precision and single-minded determination – a major achievement in a brutal discipline which doesn’t have much of a soft side.
After Dakar, Sanders’ 2025 blitz continued in Abu Dhabi and South Africa, which set him up for his first tilt at the championship in Portugal.
And the rider from Three Bridges (Vic) took full advantage, defeating Tosha Schareina (Honda) by three minutes and forty seconds, with his teammate Luciano Benavides (KTM) third. For all the results from Portugal, click here.
After four rounds of five rounds, Sanders is now on a maximum 113pts in the rally-raid title ahead of Benavides (69pts) and Schareina (66pts). For the current standings, click here.
The final round will be held in Morocco from October 10-17, as Sanders attempts to become the first rider to go through a season undefeated.