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NEWS
Yamaha WR450F Rally
A new machine for the company’s attack on the 2015 Dakar Rally, and is vastly different from the previous YZ450F-based machineYamaha has unveiled a brand new Dakar Rally machine which it hopes will be able to snap KTM’s stranglehold on the event, which stretches way back to 2001.
It’s the WR450F Rally, which is distinctly different from the previous YZ450F Rally and features a single carbon-fibre fuel cell, as opposed to the five of its predecessor, for an equivalent capacity. The change has been made to optimise weight distribution.
The WR450F also gains an electric starter, without increasing overall weight, and features a six-speed gearbox. The exhaust pipe is by Akrapovic, while the WR450F Rally sports new bodywork.
Olivier Pain, Alessandro Botturi and Michael Metge will ride the bike at Dakar 2015, and have just spent three weeks testing the machine in the Italian island of Sardinia.
“It is a new start for Yamaha Factory Racing, with the arrival of this brand new WR450F Rally that the riders have extensively tested and developed and which they will be able to push to the limits,” said Yamaha Factory Racing Rally Team Director Alexandre Kowalski. “Among the riders and the technical team the motivation is strong to take the WR450F Rally onto the top spot on the podium. Front runner on the Dakar since the very beginning -- remember we were there in 1979! -- Yamaha has everything in place to add to its outstanding record.”
Pain was third in the 2014 Dakar Rally behind the KTMs of Marc Coma and Jordi Viladoms.
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Written byBikesales Staff
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