“I'm very happy to be back at the Dakar”

After a long injury-enforced absence, Sebastian Bühler is delighted to be returning to the Dakar in 2023. The talented Hero MotoSports factory rider suffered a broken femur at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in November 2021, which meant he missed last year's Dakar and remained out of commission until the summer. Having returned to competitive action at the Rallye du Maroc and the Andalucia Rally, he is now looking forward to lining up at the world's toughest rally for the fourth time, having come as high as 14th in his last participation two years ago. Sebastian may be flying the flag for Germany, but he has spent most of his life in Portugal, after his parents went on holiday there and liked it so much that they stayed! They bought Sebastian his first bike at the age of five, and by 13 he was racing competitively. He always dreamed of doing the Dakar, especially after going to watch the start of the rally in Lisbon in 2006 and 2007. As well as winning the Portuguese all-terrain (TT) championship on several occasions, Sebastian claimed three consecutive victories at the prestigious Baja Portalegre between 2018 and 2020, plus the FIM Bajas World Cup title in the Covid-hit 2020 season. He has had some ups and downs on the Dakar, finishing as the third-best rookie in 2019, abandoning due to engine failure in 2020 and then roaring into the top 15 in 2021. Sebastian is still working his way back to full fitness after his lengthy break, so he won't overdo it at Dakar 2023; he knows the key is to stay as consistent as possible and just try to reach the finish line with the best possible result.

“I’m very happy to be back at the Dakar after my forced break. It was a difficult injury, with around six months of recovery. I started rehab two months after the surgery, and I worked very hard on it. After five months I slowly started to ride a bike again, because the doctor said it was ok, then I trained very hard to get in the best shape. It’s been very nice to be back in the desert and at races, but it’s not easy. It’s been nearly a year without racing in the desert. After such a long absence I need to get into the rhythm of doing rallies again, but I’m very happy with my bike and I had pretty good sensations in Morocco and Andalusia. Some days I felt good and tried to attack, but mostly I tried to focus on navigation and stay calm, to put good hours in and get the confidence back. The energy in the team is very good, we help and support each other and have a lot of fun together. The whole team has worked a lot on the bikes. We riders have tested a lot this year and we're very happy with the results. I'm super excited to be back racing the Dakar after such a long break, I'll give my best and at the end we will see the result.”