"Rally Dakar" - KTM withdraws!
By TMX Archives on 5th Jun 09
The limiting of motorcycles with a displacement of 450 cc forces the long term dominator of the Dakar Rally to withdraw.
Following the announcement at a press conference on June 4, 2009 of the French"ASO" - the organisers of the "South American Dakar" that from 2010, onlymotorcycles with a maximum displacement of 450 cc will be permitted to compete,KTM, after eight consecutive victories, has decided to immediately accept theconsequences and announces its withdrawal from the "Dakar".
The companywill no longer be represented at the rally in South America either with anofficial factory team or a KTM-supported team. At the same time, KTM underlinesthat the company remains committed to rally sport and will now concentrate itsefforts on the world championship and other important rallies.
Theorganiser's short term change to the rules, designed to end the dominance ofKTM, and which comes without any advance warning, hits the KTM factory hard.Today, just six months before the start - and at a time when not only thefactory team but also dozens of private teams are deep in preparations for thisextremely complex rally, the immediate withdrawal of the worldwide market leaderof offroad sports motorcycle is the only possible consequence.
"Everysport regulation needs changes and adjustments to new developments to retain aninterest in it, but this also require the appropriate lead times. We have theentire material for the 690 Rally motorcycles for our factory team as well asthat for 50 customers' motorcycles in our storage facility ready to beconstructed in June. Riders' contracts have been finalised and all the teammembers have been engaged. The financial consequences that results from thisdecision are enormous. Quite apart from this, we are shocked by the organiser'slack of loyalty, above all because of the huge efforts we made following thecancellation of the Dakar in 2008 by contributing to the new edition - evenduring a period of extreme economic crisis," said KTM Motor Sport Advisor and"Rally Legend" Heinz Kinigadner in a first statement.
Following thedecision for the deployment of 450cc motorcycles, which are unthinkablyunsuitable for use in long distance rallies, KTM can no longer economicallyjustify a commitment to be engaged in the Dakar in the future. KTM Motor SportDirector Winfried Kerschhaggl: "Rally sport serves to prove the efficiency andstability of our large volume series single cylinder. There is no question thatwe will remain active in rally sport! Having said that, for KTM, the rally inSouth America is now history. We will now fully concentrate on the Rally WorldChampionship and we will seek out alternatives. Maybe we will soon again seefull KTM Rally engagement on African soil - back to the roots!"
Withits commitment to rally sports, KTM naturally takes the obligations to its longterm worldwide customers seriously because it is they who have decided to puttheir trust in the products and in the unique service of the Austrian companyfor rally sport by choosing KTM motorcycles.