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.
The first big motorsport event of the year is yet again throwing curveballs and creating drama as the world watches on with intrigue. As many conclude their holiday season, the 2023 Dakar Rally is winding its way across Saudi Arabia, and the scenery is as beautiful as it is brutal. While the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team is preparing for the second half of the race, we have taken a look at the stats and the pictures from the last week of competition.
It’s somewhere between 40 and 50 degrees Celsius. You’re in the middle of nowhere with nothing but endless desert ahead, lost. The minutes are ticking by. With just a roadbook to keep you on the right route, hoping you hit your waypoints, you’re forced to back-track and figure out your mistake…
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.
The Dakar Rally is one of the most notoriously difficult races on the planet. With the 2021 event just weeks away, we caught up with KTM Rally Team manager Jordi Viladoms to get an insight into Dakar, what’s new for 2021 and the team’s goals.
The Rally du Maroc concluded the five-round FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship, and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Toby Price won the event to be crowned the 2018 champion.
KTM Factory Racing’s Luciano Benavides is 23 years old. Joining the rally squad, the Argentinian had no previous experience in the notoriously difficult rally races, but he had the speed, the will and the right kind of personality for the job. Heading towards his second Dakar, which will take place next January, the KTM-ace is optimistic on what he can achieve.
We followed Jurgen van den Goorbergh in his run up to his final Rally Dakar entry; his final attempt at winning the Malle Moto class. Obviously we’re very curious as to how the Dutchman got on in 2018’s rally. The former MotoGP™ rider spills his guts on the hardship of the most grueling rally raid in the world.
It’s like a fairy-tale. In 2017, Matthias Walkner finished runner-up at the Rally Dakar. A year later, after working hard on both his fitness and navigation, he returned to the Dakar on the new KTM 450 RALLY machine he’d helped to develop. After two weeks of riding in one of the toughest Dakars ever, Matthias clinched victory – an Austrian rider on-board an Austrian machine, with an Austrian title sponsor!
As we reach the well-earned rest day of Dakar 2018, it can certainly be said that this year’s route so far has been one of the toughest. From the start in Lima, Peru to today’s rest day in La Paz, Bolivia, the competitors have passed through days of desert and will now head into the mountains, racing at an altitude of over 2,500 meters.
