PMG goes MIA in 2024 Rally World Championship

All three of the Pierer Mobility Group’s off-road brands are curiously missing from the 2024 World Rally Raid Championship’s entry list, leaving only 11 riders to fight out the remaining four rounds, all on either Honda or Hero hardware.

While KTM, Husqvarna and GasGas were all represented in the Dakar Rally curtain raiser, the competition section of the official series’ website is a sparse affair, with just 11 motorcycle competitors compared to the 47 drivers which appear under the equivalent top-level four-wheeled division.

It comes after it was announced earlier this week that two-time Dakar winner and former world champ Toby Price had been dumped from the Red Bull KTM team. And while the news wasn’t altogether surprising given the 36-year-old Aussie has moved his focus more towards his four-wheel rally aspirations in recent years – he wasn’t entered to campaign the entire five-round 2024 championship – the fact that other contracted top-level riders from within the PMG stable aren’t included is surprising, to say the least.

As well as Price’s former KTM teammates Mattias Walkner and Kevin Benevides, Australian rising star and GasGas factory rider Daniel Sanders and his teammate Sam Sunderland are also missing, as is Husqvarna’s reigning world champ Luciano Benevides.

As well as Hero, the three-marque group hadn’t confirmed its inclusion in the 2024 series even as Dakar was being played out in Saudi Arabia in January. With Yamaha officially withdrawing its factory involvement in 2022, it left Honda as the sole manufacturer entry as recently as 10 weeks ago.

Indian-based manufacturer Hero now appears on the entry list with five supported riders, including Joan Barreda Bort, Ross Branch and Joaquim Rodrigues.

The 2024 Dakar Rally was the first time in a long time that no PMG brands featured on the podium, with Honda’s Ricky Brabec taking the victory ahead of Branch and Adrien Van Beveren (Honda).

Branch currently leads the championship after backing up his second-place Dakar finish with another P2 in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, though it was only Hero who entered its GP riders in the event, with Honda also opting not to participate. The round was won by Hero’s Aaron Mare, with privateer Rally 2 class KTM rider Jeanloup Lepan rounding out the podium.

bikesales has contacted the Australian arm of the Pierer Mobility Group for comment.