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Tag: KTM

  • Rookie Pedro Acosta wins Moto3 World title

    Rookie Pedro Acosta wins Moto3 World title

    KTM have won the Moto3 World Championship for the second year in a row. Red Bull KTM Ajo rider and KTM GP Academy star, Pedro Acosta, capped a magnificent rookie season in Grand Prix racing by confirming his first ‘gold medal’ at seventeen years of age at the Grande Prémio Brembo do Algarve in Portugal.

    – Acosta rules in Portimao and claims Moto3 world title in rookie year with six wins and eight podiums from 17 races- KTM lift fifth Moto3 crown since 2011 and second in a row with the KTM RC4- Red Bull KTM Ajo celebrate third Moto3 championship after titles with Sandro Cortese & Brad Binder Pedro Acosta started the 21-lap race knowing he was less than an hour away from putting his name in the world championship record books. Finishing ahead of sole title threat Dennis Foggia was enough in terms of points needed and before MotoGP travelled to the last round in Valencia. The Grande Prémio Brembo do Algarve in Portugal represented the second trip to the circuit in 2021, as the Portimao course hosted round three of the series in April. A chilly but sunny climate graced the second-to-last race of the year and Moto3 launched the Sunday program at 12.20 CET. Acosta moved up from 14th on the grid and was part of a frantic chase between an eight-rider group for the podium. The lead changed numerous times with fellow Red Bull KTM Ajo racer Jaume Masia also in contention until a late fall at Turn 5. When Foggia was a victim of contact on the final lap and crashed, 17-year-old Acosta was free to charge to the finish line and confirmation of his crown. Niccolo Antonelli made sure of his fourth podium of the 2021 in 3rd place. Ayumu Sasaki was less than two seconds from Acosta in 6th while Daniel Holgado – substituting Deniz Öncü – took his first world championship points for 13th.

    Acosta, the 2020 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup Champion, made an instant and lasting impact on Moto3 in his first attempt. He finished 2nd on his debut in Qatar but then sensationally won his second outing at the Losail International Circuit despite starting from pitlane. He added another four wins in the following eight Grands Prix to power to the top of the standings and remain in place. For the second year in succession KTM began championship celebrations in Portimao after Albert Arenas had won the 2020 Moto3 competition at the same site. Pedro Acosta: “I feel like I have nothing to say at the moment! I did the warm-down lap crying. I can only say thanks to the team, Aki, KTM and Red Bull. They gave me a family this year. Thanks to all the guys that send me messages every day. To all the people pushing me: this championship is for them.”Results Moto3 Grande Prémio Brembo do Algarve in Portugal 20211. Pedro Acosta (ESP) Red Bull KTM Ajo 38:04.3392. Andrea Migno (ITA) Honda +0.3543. Niccolo Antonelli (ITA) KTM +0.8804. Jeremy Alcoba (ESP) Honda +1.7685. Izan Guevarra (ESP) GASGAS +1.8396. Ayumu Sasaki (JPN) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +1.87413. Daniel Holgado (ESP) Red Bull KTM Tech3 +9.93019. Jaume Masia (ESP) Red Bull KTM Ajo +13.616

  • Walkner maintains his 2018 Dakar lead: A KTM view

    Walkner maintains his 2018 Dakar lead: A KTM view

    Walkner in action in Stage 12. A Redbull image

    Dakar Rally 2018 – Stage 12
    After a cancelled stage 12, Matthias Walkner maintains his 2018 Dakar Rally lead with an advantage of more than 30-minutes over his nearest competitor. Team-mates Toby Price and Antoine Meo are hot on his heels in third and fifth respectively. KTM Factory Racing’s Laia Sanz is holding onto a very strong 13th in the provisional rankings.
    The 12th stage of the 2018 Dakar Rally was canceled due to safety concerns raised by the riders at the end of stage 11. In a similar situation to the canceled stage nine, motorcycle and quad riders made their way untimed from Fiambalá to San Juan. The stage was scheduled to have the bikes follow the cars and trucks into the timed special. This, combined with the terrain and how it would be affected by the vehicles in front, was deemed too dangerous and the organisers heeded to the riders’ wishes and canceled the stage.With one day less to ride, Matthias Walkner took a step closer to claiming his first ever overall Dakar victory. The Austrian, fit and ready for the stages ahead is feeling confident with only two more days to go. Sitting at the top of the leaderboard, 32-minutes up on his nearest rival Kevin Benavides, Walkner still needs to perform well on the remaining two stages to secure a winning result.

    Matthias Walkner: “My feeling going into the final couple of stages of the rally is quite good. Tomorrow will be tough and very long, there is a lot of off-piste at the beginning of the stage and then some really fast tracks towards the end. My start position is good so I’m hoping for a solid day tomorrow, I’ll do my best and see where that gets me.

    “It was good fun yesterday riding with the cars. I tried to catch Peterhansel as soon as I could and managed to see him at about 70km into the stage. I succeeded to get in front but then he passed me again so we ended up traveling together for most of the stage. It helped me a lot because navigation on the stage was tough and I wanted to really minimise any mistakes so following a car was sensible. It was an honour to ride with ‘Mr Dakar’ himself, too.”

    Toby Price won the previous day’s stage 11, the opening leg of the second marathon stage. Price put in a dominating performance to take the win by a minute-and-a-half over the runner-up and gain over 10-minutes on his team-mate and standings leader, Walkner.

    Toby Price: “Yesterday’s stage went really well, it’s nice to get my first win at this year’s event. It helps a little for the time lost the previous day, too. We started off behind some cars and trucks, which adds a little excitement. It was a 280km special and I tried to push for the whole way – it paid off because I was fastest to every waypoint. I’m sitting third, which doesn’t sound too bad, but I’m still down quite a lot of time on Matthias. With the cancellation of today’s stage, it means even less of a chance to try and catch up. Tomorrow, stage 13 is the longest of the event though and anything can happen on this rally as we have already seen. All I can do is keep pushing and aim for a good finish on Saturday.”

    Also enjoying stage 11, right up to a large crash 10km from the finish, Antoine Meo still managed to move further up the overall rankings to fifth. Like Price, Meo is running out of time if he wants to improve that position further, but there are well over 500km of special stages left to race and Meo will be trying to make the most of every one.

    Antoine Meo: “Yesterday went really well for me, I pushed hard right from the beginning and was making up good time. Unfortunately, I crashed a little way from the finish. It was quite a big crash but luckily I came out of it in one piece and the bike was not too badly damaged. I am a little disappointed that today’s stage was cancelled, it makes it harder for me to make up time on the guys in front. At the same time, it was looking quite dangerous out there and I think the organisers made the right decision. I’ll go into tomorrow’s stage 13 looking to push as hard as I can and hopefully get another good result.”

    Laia Sanz suffered her second big crash of the rally yesterday. Picking herself up, the Spaniard made it to the finish in a commendable 18th place. Her performance moved he further up the standings – the multiple world champion now sits in an excellent 13th overall.

    Laia Sanz: “It was a really hard day for me yesterday. I started in the second group behind cars and truck and personally I think it was too dangerous. I was stuck in the dust of a truck in front and it was too difficult to overtake it safely. Towards the end of the stage I was so exhausted and ended up having another crash. Luckily, I wasn’t injured and made it to the bivouac ok, but today I am feeling a little sore. I am glad the stage today was cancelled, it has given me a chance to rest and prepare myself for the last two days.”

    Jordi Viladoms – KTM Rally Sport Manager: “The plan today was to initially ride the stage after the cars and trucks, which is a little bit dangerous for the riders. The organisers listened to the concerns raised and made the right decision to cancel the special. The terrain of stage 12 would have proved difficult anyway, but after the larger vehicles had gone through it would have been too treacherous for the bikes. We are glad that rider safety was put above everything else. With two more stages to race, we are very happy with how things are going – obviously Matthias is in a very good position, but both Toby and Antoine can still catch the guys in front of them so we’ll see what happens over the next couple of days.”

    Tomorrow’s stage 13 of the 2018 Dakar Rally from San Juan to the city of Córdoba is the longest of the event. A 483km liaison combined with a 424km timed special will really test the endurance of the riders. Starting in the sand dunes surrounding San Juan, the route will take competitors through an area of fesh-fesh and conclude on the fast WRC-style tracks on the way into Córdoba. Navigation will again be important, but overall physical fitness in the Argentinian heat will be key.

    Provisional Standings after cancelled Stage 12 – 2018 Dakar Rally 

    1. Matthias Walkner (AUT), KTM, 36:33:37
    2. Kevin Benavides (ARG), Honda, 37:05:37 +32:00
    3. Toby Price (AUT), KTM, 37:12:54 +39:17 
    4. Gerard Farres (ESP), KTM, 37:22:54 +49:17 
    5. Antoine Meo (FRA), KTM, 37:32:42 +59:05 
    Other KTM 
    13. Laia Sanz (ESP), KTM, 39:08:07 +2:34:30

    eom/A KTM release
  • Sam Sunderland wins tough Stage 3: A KTM view of the Dakar Rally 2018

    Sam Sunderland wins tough Stage 3: A KTM view of the Dakar Rally 2018

    Sunderland wins tough Stage 3. A KTM image

    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Sam Sunderland has successfully completed the long stage three of the 2018 Dakar Rally in first position. Demonstrating the speed that gave him the overall win at the 2017 event, the Brit excelled today on the 296km timed special. Antoine Meo also rode well in the dunes to place seventh for the day.
    The longest stage of the event so far, comprising a 296km special followed by a 208km liaison, proved difficult for many of the competitors today. Good navigation was paramount as well as overall speed, and as such many of the top riders lost valuable time after missing a waypoint. Using his experience, KTM 450 RALLY mounted Sam Sunderland moved up through the order as the day went on. Riding consistently, Sunderland posted a fastest time of just over three hours and 20 minutes.With today’s stage win, 2017 Dakar champion Sunderland also moves to the top of the overall standings, over four minutes ahead of the next placed rider.

    Sam Sunderland: “That was a tough day – there was a lot of off-piste riding and some of the dunes were really difficult to navigate and even climb. It made the whole day that little bit more physical, too. I’m happy to get another win, but it’s still early days yet and we have a long way to go. The bike felt really good today, even in the soft sand it was still pulling really well. I made a couple of mistakes in the middle of the stage, but thankfully they didn’t cost me too much time.”

    2016 Dakar champion Toby Price was flying straight from the start of today’s timed special. The Australian placed second at the first waypoint, just nine seconds behind team-mate Sunderland. A crash three quarters of the way into the stage cost him a few minutes, but Price continued, eventually posting the third fastest time. Unfortunately, a five-minute penalty relegated Toby to 10th position at the end of the day.

    Toby Price: “Everything felt really good today, I was really comfortable on the bike. I knew my pace was good and so I kept on pushing. I did come off the bike after a big drop-off from one of the dunes around the 140km mark. Luckily, I didn’t damage myself or the bike too much, the road-book got filled with sand though so for the rest of the stage I had to just ease my pace a little. One of the worst things was that I lost the end to my camelback in the crash and wasn’t able to keep hydrated towards the finish. Apart from that everything was good, you can see on days like today how important it is to stay focused and not make any mistakes. Hopefully I can keep up the same performance for the rest of the rally.”

    Continuing to find his form, Antoine Meo placed seventh at the end of today’s stage. The former enduro world champion made a slight error halfway through the day but luckily didn’t lose much time.

    Antoine Meo: “It’s been a mixed day for me today – half really good and half not so good. I made a big mistake at the 83km point when after riding alone for the beginning of the stage, I caught a rider in front. Instead of staying to the line I tried to get past him by taking a small detour but it ended up costing me some time. Other than that, I am really pleased with my pace, and the bike is performing perfectly. I’ll try to make up some time tomorrow.”

    After placing third on day two, Matthias Walker was one of the first bikes to enter today’s stage. The Austrian had a tough day in the soft dunes and completed the day 12th overall, nine minutes down on his team-mate Sunderland. Although disappointed with today’s result, Walkner is still upbeat about the rest of the rally.

    Matthias Walkner: “That was quite a rough day for me today. I started off third but obviously dropped some places as the stage went on. Luckily, I haven’t actually lost too much time on the guys in front and some of the other riders fared a lot worse by making mistakes with their navigation. There are still 11 days to go so I’ll just keep on pushing and see where we are after that.”

    ‘Queen of the Desert’ Laia Sanz showed today why she is by far the leading female rider at the Dakar. The Spaniard put in a sensational performance throughout the day to finish in 16th overall. Navigating perfectly through the difficult stage Laia now sits 18th in the provisional overall standings.

    Laia Sanz: “That was a good stage, I felt confident and was able to push – the whole day went really well. After the halfway point there was quite a lot of dust but I was able to navigate well and didn’t make any mistakes. It was a lot nicer to ride than yesterday’s stage too as we weren’t following the cars or crossing their tracks. I’m looking forward to tomorrow now and hope for another good day.” 

    Luciano Benavides also had a good stage. Showing a good, solid pace throughout the day, the KTM Factory rider placed an impressive 20th, the second fastest newcomer on the day. Today’s performance moves Benavides up to 17th in the overall standings – fastest of the rookies.

    Luciano Benavides: “Overall, today went really well for me. It was a long stage with some big dunes and I did lose a couple of minutes when I got stuck on one of the climbs. Apart from that, I’m enjoying myself and learning all the time about strategy, navigation and how to handle stages in terrain like this. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

    Tuesday’s stage four of the Dakar Rally 2018 will see riders begin their day with a sprint along the beach at San Juan de Marcona. The riders will then head back into the dunes for one of the most difficult sand sections of the rally. The total distance covered will be 444km, 330km of which is timed special.

    Revision: results, standings and text changed due to Toby Price receiving five-minute penalty.

    Provisional Results Stage Three – 2018 Dakar Rally

    1. Sam Sunderland (GBR), KTM, 3:20:43
    2. Kevin Benavides (ARG), Honda, 3:23:46 +3:03
    3. Ricky Brabec (USA), Honda, 3:24:38 +3:55
    4. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI), Husqvarna, 3:25:03 +4:20
    5. Gerard Farres (ESP), KTM, 3:25:51 +5:08
    Other KTM
    7. Antoine Meo (FRA), KTM, 3:27:06 +6:23
    10. Toby Price (AUT), KTM, 3:29:11 +8:28 (5min penalty) 
    11. Matthias Walkner (AUT), KTM, 3:29:47 +9:04
    15. Laia Sanz (ESP), KTM, 3:32:43 +12:00
    19. Luciano Benavides (ARG), KTM, 3:35:48 +15:05 

    Provisional Standings after Stage Three – 2018 Dakar Rally

    1. Sam Sunderland (GBR), KTM, 6:44:23
    2. Kevin Benavides (ARG), Honda, 6:49:01 +4:38
    3. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI), Husqvarna, 6:49:23 +5:00
    4. Ricky Brabec (USA), Honda, 6:52:23 +8:00
    5. Matthias Walkner (AUT), KTM, 6:53:13 +8:50
    Other KTM 
    7. Antoine Meo (FRA), KTM, 6:55:17 +10:54
    8. Toby Price (AUT), KTM, 6:56:51 +12:28 (5min penalty)
    16. Luciano Benavides (ARG), KTM, 7:12:26 +28:03
    17. Laia Sanz (ESP), KTM, 7:14:51 +30:28

    www.dakar.com
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