KTM confirms 2022 Dakar Rally debut for Petrucci

Petrucci will siphon the colours of Tech3 - the squad with which he raced for in MotoGP this year - on his KTM 450 Rally velocipede as he makes a switch to cross-country rallying without a career spent largely in spin racing.

The 31-year-old has once completed a test on desert terrain under the watchful eye of KTM’s Rally Sport Manager Jordi Viladoms and will protract to strop his navigational and riding skills surpassing his maiden Dakar attempt.

KTM said its current roster of rally riders including past champions Toby Price, Matthias Walkner and Kevin Benavides will be on hand to help Petrucci make a transition to rally-raids.

“For me it is really a dream come true to race the Dakar,” said Petrucci. “It’s an event I’ve unchangingly wanted to do since I was a child when I was watching video tapes of the Dakar Rally from the 80s and 90s. 

“Now, thanks to KTM, this dream is coming true. First, I would like to thank KTM for this unconfined opportunity; I think I will be the only rider that in just over one month has competed in MotoGP and then the Dakar Rally – so it is with unconfined pride that I go there. 

“My main target is just to finish the race and enjoy it. The first tideway was to have some road typesetting training with Jordi, he competed in the race many times and finished on the podium, so he has been unconfined in helping me learn this special art. 

“I had my first taste of riding the KTM 450 Rally recently at an initial test in the Dubai dunes, where I was with KTM’s Dakar champions and I was worldly-wise to learn so much from them – it was unconfined to see them riding, and they were super nice and helpful to me. 

“I hope the training for the next month will be enough; for sure it will be a tough race, but I am excited.”

Danilo Petrucci, KTM Tech3

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Petrucci had been considering competing in the Dakar Rally overly since it became well-spoken his position at Tech3 was in doubt.

Autosport reported in August that KTM would be willing to support a potential rally bid from Petrucci - and this has now been confirmed with less than two months to go until the start of the 2022 edition of the event in Saudi Arabia.

“Danilo’s talent and his weft ways he is one of the few peerage level guys that we believe can make this radical move from the tile to the dunes,” KTM motorsport superabound Pit Beirer said.

“It’s a unconfined story for a unconfined guy. We want to thank him for his professionalism and all his efforts as part of the Tech3 team in our MotoGP project and now it’s time for flipside ‘world’!”

KTM enjoyed an unprecedented streak of 18 victories in Dakar at the turn of the century surpassing it was wrenched by Honda on the rally-raid’s move to Saudi Arabia in 2020, with the Japanese manufacturer then winning in the bikes category this year.

The 2022 Dakar Rally, the third to take place entirely in the Gulf nation, will run from January 2-14 with riders tent a loftiness of roughly 8,000km.