Rennie Scaysbrook | February 20, 2022
Yamaha has officially ended its association with the Dakar Rally and the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship.
The only manufacturer to have participated in every edition of the Dakar Rally motorcycle event since its inception, Yamaha will now shift its focus from two wheels to four as they aim for success in the side-by-side category with the YXZ1000R SSV.
The Japanese giant has enjoyed considerable success on the Dakar, taking the first two race wins in 1979 and 1980 with Frenchman Cyril Neveu on an XT500. Mr. Dakar, Stephane Peterhansel, took six victories for Yamaha in the 1990s and Italian Edi Orioli took the gold in the 1997 event.
Adrien van Beveren in action in the 2022 Dakar Rally. The Frenchman and Yamaha came close but couldn’t lift rally racing’s ultimate prize together.
More recently, Yamaha made a concerted effort to break the KTM stranglehold on the event with the Monster Energy team with Frenchman Adrien van Beveren coming achingly close to the win in 2018, only for mechanical problems to halt his charge with the finish in sight.
“Yamaha has a long and storied history with the Dakar Rally, starting in 1979 at the first-ever edition and running unbroken into the modern era,” said Eric de Seynes, President and CEO of Yamaha Motor Europe. “It’s also an event that I personally have a real passion for, having twice contested the event and for many years worked closely with Jean-Claude Olivier, who not only raced and won stages at the Dakar but also oversaw Yamaha’s most successful pioneer period in the rally.
“However, while the Dakar Rally has mainly succeeded in remaining close to its roots, even when it moved out of its spiritual home of Africa, the world in which it exists has changed considerably. Our off-road customers now have different expectations and they look for different products, and we must cater for these if we are to stay connected. It is for this reason we have decided to end our long history on two wheels at the Dakar Rally and in the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship, while simultaneously strengthening our commitment to racing the Dakar on four wheels with the Yamaha YXZ1000R SSV.
“However, Yamaha’s commitment to Rally Raid events with motorcycles is not over, but our future engagement must have a closer connection to our customers and their aspirations, developing further the Ténéré 700 potential towards a direction which will enable them to rediscover the more adventurous side of Rallies.”
Yamaha’s withdrawal means van Beveren, Botswanan Ross Branch, and America’s Andrew Short are out of a ride for the Dakar Rally and the remaining FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship, with round two scheduled for March 2, 2022, in Abu Dhabi.
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