KTM quit Dakar Rally

Added on Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 by Carole Nash Editor | No Comments

Eight-time Dakar Rally champions KTM have announced that they will be pulling out of this year’s event following the decision to restrict engines to 450cc.

Event organisers, who have been looking to end the dominance of eight-time consecutive winners KTM in the Dakar Rally, opted to limit engine displacement to 450cc for the 2010 event, compared with the 690cc engines currently fitted to previous KTM entries.

A company statement claimed that the limit to 450cc was “unthinkably unsuitable for use in long distance rallies” and that the manufacturer could “no longer economically justify a commitment to be engaged in the Dakar in the future”. The company also blamed short lead times to adjust to the 450cc standard.

The decision means that KTM will not be represented at all in Dakar in 2010, with both factory and satellite teams affected by the announcement.

“Every sport regulation needs changes and adjustments to new developments to retain an interest in it, but this also require the appropriate lead times,” said KTM Motor Sport Advisor Heinz Kinigadner in a statement. “We have the entire material for the 690 Rally motorcycles for our factory team as well as that for 50 customers’ motorcycles in our storage facility ready to be constructed in June. Riders’ contracts have been finalised and all the team members have been engaged. The financial consequences that results from this decision are enormous. Quite apart from this, we are shocked by the organiser’s lack of loyalty, above all because of the huge efforts we made following the cancellation of the Dakar in 2008 by contributing to the new edition – even during a period of extreme economic crisis.”

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