An elated Tim Trenker was yesterday celebrating becoming a world champion after winning the Open Production Trophy category of the FIM Cross-Country Rally World Championship.
Needing only to finish at the Pharoans Rally in Egypt, the Dubai resident yesterday more than met his objective as he came in second in his class and fifth overall on his KTM-UAE bike.
After nearly two decades of racing bikes, the German said: "I was very emotional when I finished as it is has been a long time coming, and it is nice to do it here having done my first race when I was 18 in Egypt and then 17 years later be coming back to be a world champion."
The final stage of the event, which had started on Monday, was over 500km and Trenker finished with a flourish as he held on to second place and moved up to fifth from seventh in the order. "For so much of the rally I had been trying to be careful and just ensuring that I brought the bike home," he said. "But I wanted to keep second and had a guy close behind me so I pushed a little to ensure I kept my place.
"It was good to have something to focus on as it took my mind off thinking about the championship, and it was such a great feeling when I had finished and I knew that I had done it." Trenker was eager to pay tribute to his KTM-UAE mechanics, adding: "They have been brilliant. "A lot of people have had reliability issues in this event, but my bike has run without any problems and has not given me any worries, allowing me to focus on the riding."
It was a double celebration for the KTM-UAE team as Marc Coma was the overall winner on the factory bike, which earned him the main championship as well.