The major rest-day milestone has been reached! Both Toby Price and Kevin Benavides have overcome the first week perils of the notoriously tough Dakar Rally in Saudi aboard their KTM 450 RALLY machines to make it to the all-important mid-point of the race. Time to re-charge, re-focus and prepare for the second part of the battle.
As you’re preparing for your new year celebrations, spare a thought for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Toby Price. An offroad legend, Dakar winner and globally loved racer, Toby is in the final stages of prep for the biggest event on the calendar, the Dakar rally, having spent the last few months living in a hotel room. We caught up with the Aussie just a short time ago to talk about hotel food, training for the big one and a passion for all things mechanical.
Kevin Benavides is ready to take on the world’s most notorious race again this January with the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team. The reigning Dakar champion, who hails from Salta in Argentina, has been getting to grips with the KTM 450 RALLY with his first competitive outing in Morocco in October, and now has his eyes on the ‘big one’ which is edging ever closer. We caught up with Kevin recently to find out more about rally life, home life, running a KTM dealership and racing for KTM.
Matthias Walkner is the 2021 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Champion. Crowned in Morocco with a round of the five-event series to spare, the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider lifted his second world title in rally after an exciting campaign aboard his KTM 450 RALLY machine.
Get the inside scoop on some of the lesser-known stories from the KTM Factory Racing’s winning run at the 2019 Silk Way Rally.
As the KTM Factory Racing Team battled their way through the 2019 Dakar Rally in Peru all eyes were unquestionably focused on the job in hand – that of overcoming the event’s many and varied challenges. But Dakar is an otherworldly undertaking, one that requires a full 12 months of preparation.
Behind every good team is, among many other things, an impressive race truck. Certainly, that’s the case at KTM Factory Racing. Two years in development and construction, the new six-wheel-drive monster is the brainchild of Michael Angerer. The KTM BLOG spoke to the Austrian mechanic to find out more.
With the start of the 2019 Dakar Rally growing closer and closer, we take a look at 10 things you probably didn’t know about the world’s toughest cross-country rally. From the fuel used by the bikes on the long, arduous days to what the riders do when it comes to bathroom breaks when out in the desert …
2016 Dakar Rally winner Toby Price is no stranger to hardship. Before his rally career had even begun the Australian suffered three broken vertebrae during a Hare and Hounds crash in America. Then, when defending his Dakar title in 2017, another fall resulted in a badly broken leg that resulted in his immediate retirement from the event. But through a positive mental, dogged determination and a never give up attitude, Price fought back to claim a hard-fought Dakar podium finish in early 2018. Price then went on to win the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship making him a firm favorite for Dakar 2019. However, once again the KTM ace is experiencing the rollercoaster ride of the sport, as he faces a race back to fitness to make it to the start of the Dakar in January, after sustaining a wrist injury this week.
The Dakar Rally is not a race where you can be complacent. Despite 17 consecutive wins for the KTM Factory Racing Team, each member of staff involved in the rally program is meticulous in the preparation for one of the toughest and most famous races in the world.
