New brands, new motorcycles – but new winners too? The ZXMOTO 450 Rally and Triumph TF 450-X are gaining their first W2RC experience at the Rallye du Maroc. The Kawasaki KLE500 Rally takes a different approach. A look at documented results shows what the three newcomers can already do and where big questions remain.
As of 30 September 2026. This Morocco interim assessment covers the prologue and the first stage on 29 September, not final rally results.
ZXMOTO 450 Rally: The Real Test Begins with a Costly Lesson
ZXMOTO is entering the world championship directly with its Spanish partner Joyride Race Service. Skyler Howes is competing in RallyGP, Tobias Ebster in Rally2. The 450 Rally is explicitly still a development prototype. Morocco is meant to deliver findings; in the long term, the project is aiming for a Dakar win. That is how the official W2RC presentation describes it.
The first stage already showed how demanding this path will be: according to SPEEDWEEK, Howes came to a halt with an empty tank. Ebster shared his fuel with his team-mate, so both reached the finish. The report documents a range problem on that day, but not yet a clearly established technical cause. Whether consumption, filling or usable tank volume was decisive cannot be derived from it.
Analysis: For ZXMOTO, the first task is to get a complete rally package working. Engine power alone is not enough. Fuel supply, cooling, navigation and serviceability must work together under race conditions. The opening gives the team a concrete job to do, but not yet a final verdict on the motorcycle.
Triumph TF 450-X: Class Wins on W2RC Debut
Albert Martín provides the clearest proof of sporting success in this comparison so far: at Triumph’s first W2RC appearance he won the prologue in Rally3 and then the first stage of his class as well. The official W2RC report on the first stage confirms the second win in a row. These are class wins – neither an overall win against the RallyGP factory riders nor yet victory in the whole rally.
The production TF 450-X is a motocross bike with a 449.5 cc single-cylinder engine. Its aluminium frame and KYB suspension form a sporty basis. The production specifications, such as the seven-litre tank, do not automatically describe Martín’s rally configuration, however. A complete, reliable list of his Morocco build is not available here.
Analysis: Two class wins make Triumph’s entry interesting. They show that the rider and the prepared motorcycle are competitive in Rally3. How reliably the overall package performs over the whole event remains to be seen. A Triumph Dakar factory team derived from this would currently be speculation.
Kawasaki KLE500 Rally: Real Competition, a Different Discipline
The name is official: Kawasaki Deutschland offers a KLE500 Rally. Behind it is an adventure bike with a 451 cc twin-cylinder engine and an accessory package including an Akrapovič exhaust, radiator guard and a larger bash plate. That is a different concept from a pure 450 rally prototype.
Race successes do exist, though: at the Super GP at Rocco’s Ranch in Barcelona, the KLE500 won both races of the combined trail/maxi-trail field, according to Kawasaki. Ferrán Cardús finished first, Ferran Sastre second. It was flat track. These results prove neither a rally raid win nor the unchanged production configuration of the Rally edition.
Analysis: A reliable rally raid result for the new KLE500 could not be documented for this comparison. For riders who want to combine everyday use, travel and first navigation experience, its concept is interesting nonetheless. Whether it suits a specific amateur rally depends on the route, vehicle class and regulations.
Three Newcomers, Three Different Yardsticks
| Model | Documented competition | Current status |
|---|---|---|
| ZXMOTO 450 Rally | Rallye du Maroc, RallyGP and Rally2 | Development phase; fuel problem for Howes on stage 1. |
| Triumph TF 450-X | Rallye du Maroc, Rally3 | Martín wins prologue and stage 1 of his class. |
| Kawasaki KLE500 | Super GP, trail/maxi-trail field | Flat-track successes; no rally raid result documented here. |
Triumph can therefore point to the strongest early class success, ZXMOTO to the development project explicitly aimed at the Dakar. With the KLE500 Rally, Kawasaki focuses more on the link between road and off-road. A joint ranking would say little: what matters is whether a motorcycle suits your own use – and whether a few good days turn into a reliable rally week.
Image credits
Image 1: provided by ZXMOTO UK; photographer not stated. Image 2: provided by Kawasaki Motors Europe; photographer not stated. Title and social banners: AI-generated illustrative collages based on these images as well as the production motorcycle image and logo from the Triumph Media Kit and the official manufacturer logos of ZXMOTO and Kawasaki. The collages show no shared race scene and no complete documentation of the current rally builds.