KTM has enjoyed no fewer than 16 consecutive Rally Dakar victories. Even since 2011, when rules changed and engine sizes were reduced to a maximum of 450cc in an effort to bring other manufacturers into the event, KTM have won every single race. With an all-new bike for 2018, KTM once again take to the start well-prepared, well-motivated and hoping to take win number 17 …
Winner of the 2017 Rally Dakar, Sam Sunderland has had a mixed season in this year’s FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship. A title contender right up to the final round in Morocco, Sunderland endured a series of minor injuries and bad luck that eventually ruled him out of the running. Despite this, his pace throughout the year has been hugely impressive, with wins at the opening two rounds in Abu Dhabi and Qatar. Sam heads into the 2018 Dakar as the man to beat.
Now approaching its 40th year, the 10th to be held in South America, the Rally Dakar really is one of the toughest sporting events on the planet. More than 500 competitors will race for glory over 9,000 km of varied terrain through Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. One of those competitors is Laia Sanz. Multiple world champion in trials and enduro, the ‘Queen of the Desert’ will be starting her eighth Dakar on January 6. The KTM BLOG caught up with Laia as she travelled to Morocco for her final training camp before the Rally starts in just over one month’s time.
With 16 consecutive wins at the notoriously tough Rally Dakar the KTM Factory Racing Team is gearing up for another tough battle in January with the sole aim of continuing this unbelievable success-streak.
The LC8c was the star of the 2017 EICMA display and unveiling but seeing a bike stationary and under lights is one thing, in its element is another …
Everything is shiny, bright and new at the annual motorcycling mecca of show-and-tell at EICMA in Milan and the glitzy and burgeoning KTM stand was no different as the latest exciting wares for 2018 and the future were unveiled this week. What will visitors to the Fiera Milano find and what news did KTM have in store?
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing´s Matthias Walkner secured a well-deserved victory at the 2017 OiLibya Rally, which marked the fifth and final round of the 2017 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship.
He’s achieved the goal of a lifetime, but it’s back to work for Sam Sunderland, only this time he will begin the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship as a Dakar winner.
KTM had been unbeaten since 2001 when more than 140 riders lined up for the start of the 39th edition of the Dakar Rally in Asunción on January 2, 2017. Orange was once again the predominant color at the start line – over half of the competitors had opted for the machine that so often wins this event, the KTM 450 RALLY.
In November 2016 the Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Racing Team opened its doors and gave a few journalists a rare chance to test the KTM 450 RALLY machines …
