Interview with world rally champion Matthias Walkner

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Interview with world rally champion Matthias Walkner

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Interview with world rally champion Matthias Walkner

Interview with world rally champion Matthias Walkner
“The Dakar is in a different league”

The Austrian Matthias Walkner (29) is considered the shooting star of rally sport. Just a year after his first rally, the Austrian won the Cross Country World Championship title.

Peter Mayer

12/30/2015

You are already being traded by insiders as the winner of the Dakar Rally, which starts in a few days. Would you agree with that?
So I don’t know what planet these people are living on who are predicting this. I was able to set a few accents at last year’s Dakar and even get a stage win, but I quickly realized how tough this rally really is. In the end I was eliminated with a bad cold, but before that the Dakar had already shown me my limits.

But that sounds extremely modest. You won the world title in your second year in rallying. That’s a sensation.
Of course, that made me happy and it certainly showed my potential. But as I said, the Dakar is a different number than the six rallies that make up the World Cup. They only last a few days and don’t really get to the point.

You have your roots in motocross and became MX3 world champion in 2012. How did you get into rallying in the first place??
The future of the MX3 World Championship became more and more uncertain after my title. In the meantime, this World Cup has also been abolished. So I had to reorient myself. During this phase, KTM co-owner Heinz Kinigadner approached me with the thought of giving rally a try. I did that, competed in the Hellas rally in Greece last year and won there straight away. That was, so to speak, the starting signal for a career as a rally driver.

Very few drivers manage to get off to such a quick start in this discipline. Motocross drivers in particular often fall on their first rally outings. How do you manage to make ends meet so well??
Even as a motocross rider, I was relatively stable and rarely fell. I was hardly injured at all in my entire career. That is rather unusual. Perhaps I was born with a considered driving style or driving talent. In rallying, it is definitely extremely important not to overstay. In no other discipline is the old saying as valid as it is in rallying: It is only added up at the end.

In these weeks you are very present in the motorsport-oriented media. It looks like your rallying career would outshine your motocross title in terms of publicity. Is that so?
Don’t be mistaken. Now, in the time before the Dakar, it may be like that, but apart from that, the media hype is also limited when it comes to the Dakar appearance. Motorsport doesn’t have it easy anywhere in the media. And Austria is simply a ski nation.

You also have close contact with skiing. Her sister is a professional skier.
Yes, Eva is the reigning freeride world champion. I also went skiing myself and was actually quite good at the regional level. But when I was ten, I was more enthusiastic about motorcycles.

The ski star Marcel Hirscher is also one of your friends.
Yes, I’ve known Marcel skiing since I was a child. We still occasionally ride motocross together today.

He drives well?
Yes, he is already hugely dependent on the gas. Only when jumping, he still has to add more (laughs).

It is not easy to be a motor sports enthusiast in your home near Salzburg. Routes are in short supply.
That’s right, at first I only drove on the meadow behind the house and dug up everything there. In order to drive on a real motocross track, you have to be on the road for an hour or two in the van. That is a lot of work.


Interview with world rally champion Matthias Walkner


KTM

Shooting star of rally sport and KTM works driver: Austrian Matthias Walkner.

Back to the Dakar. You already mentioned that this rally is in a league of its own. The big differences in altitude and temperature are also a problem?
They are not only a problem, they are the ultimate challenge. We drive over the Andes twice. The route rises up to 4600 meters above sea level. It is bitterly cold and the air is getting extremely thin.

Can you prepare for it??
One must. Until recently, I lived for three weeks on the Kitzsteinhorn at an altitude of almost 3000 meters. In addition, I have been sleeping at home in a tent since then, which simulates staying in low-oxygen air.

Only two German-speaking motorcyclists will compete in the 2016 Dakar. Isn’t that strange?
It’s correct. The rally is actually very popular. But as I said, Austria is a ski nation and Germany a football nation. Sponsors are not that easy to find.

And now the obligatory final question: How will you do at the 2016 Dakar?
Let’s say the probability is small, but anything is possible. I will do everything I can to help a Bedouin. der Red .: The look of the trophies corresponds to the Bedouin logo of the Dakar] to bring home with you. So top 3.

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