~ Auto Buzz ~: ON THE RECORD: Heinz Kinigadner KTM General Manager talks about 15th consecutive Dakar win and MotoGP.

We chat with Heinz Kinigadner about KTM’s domination (unbeaten since 2001) in the toughest rally in the world, and also the MotoGP project and the announcement of its rider, which will happen prior to the season-opening Qatar GP. KTM is the bike to beat on the Dakar Rally. The Austrian Manufacturer placed three bikes on the podium this year in Rosario, Argentina: Toby Price on a factory machine, Stefan Svitko on the private version and Pablo Quintanilla on the Husqvarna. The marketing department couldn’t ask for a better result, showing that a privateer can have a top result and that the “cousin” Husqvarna is competitive, too.

DAKAR: It’s a combination of team, rider, and machine, but to win such a unique race such as the Dakar, experience is crucial and the team plays a very important role. The majority of the guys have been working together since 2001, the year of our first victory. The newcomers are out soon if they don’t fit into the team system. This is a family. They have orange blood in the veins and they are so proud of that. For example, they are not worried if our riders are not on top of the timesheets on the rest day which marks the finish of the first week of the race, because they know that in the last five years we have been leading the overall classification in the second week. Everybody in the team understands the bike very well, as well as the logic of this special race. We were not ready when KTM joined the Dakar Rally in Africa in 1994. The first success arrived only seven years later in 2001, but from that year on it has been 15 victories in a row [the 2008 edition was cancelled, and from 2009 the rally moved to South America]. There is no more space for all the compromises we made at the beginning. Now, we have the best possible resources available: from the best tools to repair a motorbike to a training center in Spain. The factory machine and the version for the private riders is basically the same, apart from the suspension. Any rider can try and win a Dakar with our bike.

Toby Price brings home KTM's 15th consecutive DAKAR victory | KTM

With the withdrawal of Marc Coma, a five-time Dakar winner with KTM, we have been working to create a new generation of rider: Toby Price, Matthias Walkner, Antonie Meo and also Sam Sunderland. Yes, it’s a big surprise. Last year–on his [Toby Price’s] debut–he had no pressure and he impressed the team because he was always happy with the bike. After having scored the third position overall, I imagined that this year he would have struggled to manage the pressure, but I was wrong. He did a great race and deserved the victory.

MotoGP: I was impressed by how good the [MotoGP] machine was already at the first shake down. The engine is really good and also the seamless [gearbox] works well. We have been using the Magneti Marelli ECU from the beginning as well as the Michelin tires [both of which are mandatory from 2016 forward]. Of course, lap-time wise, we are still not competitive but we are satisfied with the level of the project. After the first roll out [tests] myself and Stefan Pierer, the number 1 of KTM, were so excited that we would have liked to accelerate the debut, but Pit Beirer, who is responsible for the MotoGP project, asked us to stick to the original program. We will work on the development throughout the 2016 season, with the possibility to do a wild card in Valencia [at the end of the season].

We want to secure one rider before the Qatar GP. Every week we have riders knocking on our door and we know that the riders market will move very early this year as all the top riders have their contracts expired at the end of 2016. We need to show first the performance of our bike to convince them to come and ride for KTM. We won’t repeat the mistake we did when we joined the Motocross Championship and we spent a lot of money to get the best riders. I’m thinking about Jeremy McGrath, for example. The policy didn’t pay off. It’s easier to get good riders with a good bike. The Single ECU was the point [to sway us to commit], otherwise we would have no chance to be competitive in a few years. It’s the same as on the Dakar. You need experience and thanks to the single ECU we can gain time.