Here’s how the gem signing Edgar Canet for KTM happened: “He created his own opportunity”

Edgar Canet exploded in the Dakar Rally as the great star of the future at the international level of motorcycle raids. To him 19 years He is the youngest official driver in the history of the Dakar in his debut in the most difficult event in the world after a signing announced on December 23, a few days before the Dakar, and it has intrahistory that speaks for La Garriga itself. The great architect of his signing, Jordi Viladoms, revealed it to MD, KTM sports director.

Shadow work and persistence

Edgar Canet’s question is not new Nani Romehis mentor since he was 11, who wanted to try rallying when he turned 18. This was when the boy was 17 and the Catalan banned him. Then, Edgar’s friend Ferran Mas called Viladoms to ask for help and advice for that step. And he also told him not to do it and pursue motocross. “But no,” Jordi exclaimed. If they don’t help him, he will do it alone. “He started rallying and didn’t listen to Nani or anyone. What he wants is the Dakar. I’m obsessed with Dakar. I am very clear about it and I like it very much. And that was something very important and why I realized that I had to sign him.he assured this medium.

Jordi saw something that is rare to see in a boy his age. “I realized when I saw everything he was doing. He went to compete in the 1,000 dunes to test himself in raids, but then they told me he went to train with some friends in Morocco. Then he called me to ask me for roadbooks to train and told me he wanted to race in Baja and the Portugal Rally of the World Cup… and I told him that we had no motorcycles available, but despite this, you saw that he got himself a motorcycle and a roadbook and he was going to Morocco again, and here again, and there again. Insistence and insistence. I realized then that I was moving heaven and earth to do it and do all the right things. And I liked that a lot”argument.

“When the driver is like that it shows that he has a lot of passion and you know he will work. There are pilots who say they want to do it, but they are waiting for everything to be done. He didn’t wait for the opportunity, he did it. So he put it on a plate to tell us, ‘okay, you’re showing us that you’re ready and that you deserve our help.’ We can’t refuse.

The moment of truth: he passed some important tests

In Portugal and Argentina, his first two World Cup events, he amazed, driving with the best. Time to try it out. “After Argentina we started inviting him to training near Barcelona and to a test. And the story grew. Another thing that surprised me was that he was not nervous when he came to us. And now it’s quiet too. Excited and happy, but calm. He has a cold head. Someone else in his place would be like a flan,” added Viladoms.

Another point that has caught the attention of KTM is that it has achieved good results on a motorcycle that is far from the officials. “One day we went to his motorcycle to find out what material he was racing on: ‘But it’s a hotchpotch!’ we said. And he runs faster than riders with better motorcycles. So we decided to leave him a nice motorcycle to see what happens. It happened at the Morocco Rally. They gave him an official motorcycle from last years and Edgar took off with 7th place overall in the Dakar run-up. That happened in October. Then they invited him to train with the official team in the United States. “We will not let him escape,” they said. And the signing came, although not without complications.

The situation of brand economy crisis It didn’t help, but after a lot of effort by Edgar, Viladoms He did his best to find the formula to achieve his signature: “He’s done everything to get here, so we have to do everything and more to get him”. KTM is looking for riders to train for its team’s generational change and it wants Canet as soon as possible to be ready as soon as possible. What better than to experience the Dakar to understand the race and learn? But Edgar went a step further and shined in his premiere.

All elements: head, technique and speed

“We saw that even though he is very young, he is very mature. He has very good head gear. He had a very good reason. He has a very good approach competing in motocross, so his motorcycle level is very high, but for rallies you need a combination of the two: that he rides very well but has a head, he is very good at navigation and uses logic well and knows how to calm down when needed. And in the short time we’ve been with it we’ve seen that it has these ingredients”he finished.

It’s still too early. He has a lot to improve and no one knows his ceiling. In fact, Jordi Viladoms He doesn’t want to be compared to Nani or Marc Coma because “we still don’t know what kind of driver Canet is.” He knows he has a bright future ahead of him if he continues this development, though he and Nani don’t want to burn through the stages too quickly and ask him not to race. It is natural to him.