Promising results for KTM ATV at Le Touquet

Le Touquet Pas-de-Calais played host to the famous Enduropale du Touquet on the weekend of the 21st and 22nd of February, the three-hour race held on a sixteen kilometre course running along the soft sands from the promenade to the Stella Plage and back.
 
With almost five hundred entrants, beautiful weather and hundreds of thousands of spectators for the Quaduro event on Saturday 21st, KTM were well represented with Ready to Race XC and SX ATV's on the entry list with factory supported and privateer teams and riders, fantastic results delivered with KTM finishing in the top ten and with many of their stars of the present and the future getting outstanding results on debut Quaduro appearances.
 

Cyril Despres / Fabien Planet, KTM France
More suited to racing on two wheels rather than four, the thirty-five year-old 2009 Dakar Rallye runner-up nevertheless put on a fantastic performance with fellow countryman Fabian Planet aboard the new KTM 450 SX.  Starting in the first group, Cyril led the charge up the beach at the start of the opening lap and held position in the top thirty as the first hour passed, Fabian then taking over shortly afterwards and comfortably holding 32nd at two-thirds distance. 

With three hours almost run the team had battled hard and moved back in to the top thirty and looked like delivering a fantastic result, only to run out of fuel on the last lap.  " It's been a really fun event to do and I'm delighted with the way we performed during the race" commented Cyril afterwards, " it's a shame that we ran out of fuel on the last lap as the KTM 450 SX was fantastic to ride, performed flawlessly and the overall result does not give a true indication of how good it really is ." 
 

Stefan Schreiber / Mario Block, KTM Alskom Quadracing
Having never ridden at the event before, seventeen year-old Stefan Schreiber and his fellow German team-mate, Mario Block, pioneered the new KTM 505 SX around the challenging circuit like veterans with fantastic results.  Despite a starting number of 180 and in the fourth group of fifty riders, Stefan had moved up from to 82nd as he pitted at the end of the first hour, Mario taking over for the next one hour stint and pushing through to 59th at the last refuelling, Stefan showing the qualities that earned him the number three spot in the 2008 European Quad Championship to finish a fantastic 31st at the chequered flag. 

Delighted at his result, Stefan commented " our only goal coming in to this race was to finish and gain some valuable experience of riding in these conditions.  The KTM 505 SX is an unbelievable bike to ride and is easily the fastest accelerating bike out there by far. The bike we used is the one I raced for most of last year in the European Quadcross series and is extremely reliable, and although the circuit got rougher as the race wore on, the bike handled really well and I was able to push in the last phase to make up quite a few places.

 It has been a really enjoyable event, I don't think I've ever been at a race with so many fantastic spectators who cheer every competitor on, and it will be good preparation for other long events like Bastogne and Pont De Vaux which I will also be doing this year."
 

Sebastian Husseini, KTM UAE
Travelling over from his base in Dubai and to make his Le Touquet debut, the twenty-three year old former World Off Road Rally Champion delivered a fantastic result in what was undoubtedly one of the best performances of the day.  Riding a KTM 525 XC, Sebastian started from the last of the ten starting groups and was faced with the challenge of negotiating around many of the four hundred and fifty riders ahead of him. 

Quickly adapting to the circuit Sebastian had blitzed through the field with one hour gone to occupy 42nd position, the flying Dutchman continuing his progression as far as 27th in the second hour before dropping back to 31st after stopping to refuel, Sebastian taking the chequered flag after three exhausting hours in a fantastic 38th position overall and 15th in the solo competitor class. 

" I've always heard so much about this race meeting and have always wanted to take part" Sebastian commented afterwards, " but it is totally different to what I expected and is more demanding than I had first envisaged.  I race mainly Desert Rally events so I am used to riding in sand, but with the number of bikes the circuit here got really rough towards the end and made it difficult for me to maintain my momentum through the pack. 

The KTM 525 XC is a brilliant bike for events like this and we didn't change much as it is already really competitive in standard trim against the fully modified quads out there.  Overall I'm really happy with my performance as it is my first time here, and I will definitely be back to contest it next year where I can capitalise on a front row start."
 

Sandra Mathy, KTM Elmo Racing Team
In only her second year of competitive quad racing, the nineteen year old from just outside Vienna took the KTM 450 SX to the deep sand of Le Touquet and put in a fantastic debut performance to finish 6th in the ladies class. 

Starting from the 6th row, Sandra quickly adapted to the challenging conditions and was running 342nd after one hour and gradually began to work her way back up the leaderboard, 307th at two-thirds distance before taking the chequered flag in 263rd overall.  Sandra commented after the race, " It's been a really good result considering it is my first time here and I have never ridden a circuit such as this, I usually race Cross Country type events and occasionally some motocross. 

I was not as physically well prepared for the race as I would have liked to have been, and I did get a little tired in the last hour of the race, but the KTM 450 SX handled perfectly as the circuit got rougher and allowed me to gain a lot of places towards th e end.  I will certainly do this race next year, but in the meantime I am really looking forward to racing the KTM 450 SX in the German XC Championship this year, and will also do other races such as Erzberg and Pont De Vaux."
 
Overall Results
1st - Romain Couprie
2nd - Jeremie Warnia
3rd - Jan Vlaeymans
9th - Julien Valentin / David Bertrand (Team Motoland KTM)
29th - Grzegorz Brzozoxski / Jacek Stelmaszyk (Brzozowski Quad Tuning KTM)
31st - Stefan Schreiber / Mario Block (KTM Alskom Quadracing)
38th - Sebastian Husseini (KTM UAE)
263rd - Sandra Mathy (KTM Elmo Racing Team)
350th - Cyril Despres / Fabian Planet (KTM France)
  

-KTM-Sportmotorcycles, Mattighofen-