“Obviously once I started racing off road back in South Africa the Dakar was much more on the cards but initially at least more as a pre-retirement option. I very nearly signed to race the GNCC off-road championship in the States but then I saw that Ross Branch, who I have raced against many times back home, was going well in rally raid and also that Daniel Sanders had decided to switch to rally early in his career and that got me thinking. In endurance sports in general the top athletes are getting younger, just look at the Tour de France, and I think that in future more and more riders will switch to the Dakar at a young age. What really decided it for me was the Rallye du Maroc. I saw I had the speed and was comfortable riding that kind of terrain and that every day my navigation improved. The first stage I lost 40 minutes, the second 10 minutes, the third 5… and eventually I won the last special in the Rally2 class. All in all, not too bad the first time ever racing a rally bike. Obviously having my dad there was a big plus, as was being in the BAS KTM Dakar team and I’ll have the same set up for the Dakar, which is perfect. In terms of results I’m still very new to the sport and have a lot to learn so finishing in the top 15 would be fine by me.”