Yamaha pulls out of Dakar Rally

Yamaha has withdrawn from the motorcycle category of the annual Dakar Rally, announcing in late February that they would not be contesting the 2023 event, nor would they take part in the remaining rounds of this year’s FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship.

Yamaha is the only manufacturer to have participated in every running of the Dakar since it was first held in 1979, and while they were successful in the event’s early years, a Yamaha rider has not taken overall victory in the fortnight-long marathon for the past 25 years.

That lack of success was most likely a leading factor in the decision to pull out of the rally, but another is financial, as the budget for the annual Dakar campaign came from Yamaha Motor Europe, not Yamaha head office in Japan. As such, development was always behind the full-factory teams from KTM and, more recently, Honda.

Officially, the reason for Yamaha’s withdrawal from the Dakar after 43 consecutive starts is a shift in the market away from the WR450F-based bike that they’ve entered since 2015.

“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,” said Eric de Seynes, President and CEO of Yamaha Motor Europe.

“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 towards a direction which will enable them to rediscover the more adventurous side of Rallies.”

Despite their withdrawal from the bike category, Yamaha won’t be entirely absent from the Dakar in 2023, with resources to now be put into the Light Prototype (aka Modified SSV) category, where Yamaha campaigns the YXZ 1000R and has tasted more success, including a runner-up finish in 2021.

Yamaha won the motorcycle category at the very first Dakar in 1979, when Cyril Neveu rode a modified XT500 to victory, then repeated the feat in 1980. In the 1990s, ‘Mr Dakar’ Stephane Peterhansel won six times on a Yamaha, with Edi Orioli claiming the manufacturer’s last win in 1997.

Since then, Yamaha has come close to victory in the motorcycle category on several occasions, with podiums in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2014. Adrien van Beveren finished fourth for Yamaha in 2017 and was leading for most of the 2018 Dakar before crashing out on Stage 10.

This year, van Beveren was leading with two stages to go, but would finish fourth overall, while team mate Andrew Short finished eighth and Ross Branch retired after Stage 7.