After forty-four Dakar Rallies, Yamaha is pulling the plug on its WR450F rally program. Yamaha has been involved in the Dakar rally since its inception. Frenchman Cyril Neveu took the victory on a Yamaha XT500 in 1979. A year later he followed up with a second win. This year, Yamaha riders Adrien Van Beveren and Andrew Short finished the rally fourth and eighth places.
“Yamaha would like to thank everyone involved in organizing the Dakar Rally, the team’s crew, the riders and the sponsors who worked with the manufacturer over the last four decades and brought so much success and many emotions” read a statement from Yamaha.
The company is also pulling out its factory support in the FIM Cross Country Rallies World Championship. Yamaha will continue involvement in Dakar through the Yamaha YXZ1000R prototype program, competing in the SSV category.
