N° 012 - TEAM ORLEN TEAM
 - FRETIGNE
- David
- FRA
- 30/07/1970
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David Frétigné : « I wasn’t wrong »
Naïm Suleymanoglu, 1,47m, 50 world records, triple Olympic weight lifting champion. Kajsa Bergqvist, 1,75m, female world indoor high jump record holder (2.08m) and world champion. David Fretigné’s battle is a little bit of the same order. In a sport where the machine plays such a significant role, he hasn’t made things easy on himself: go faster that the others with a less powerful motorcycle. While the KTMs of Coma, Despres and the others are competing with a 660cc engines, Fretigné has run very credibly on a 450cc Yamaha for the past four years. 5th overall in 2005, the Frenchman had a more difficult time of it in 2007 when he was forced to drop out in the middle of the event. This year, “Fretos” is wearing two hats after having created his own team, in which there are two other riders along side. Although the mechanical superiority of the KTMs inhibit him from riding for the outright win, David continues to campaign for the future of the 450cc category. “I was the first to prove that you can finish the Dakar with a good result on a 450cc and in very safe conditions. When I turned up for the first time on my 450cc, everyone thought I was mad, but now the class represents nearly have the field. This proved that I didn’t get it wrong five years ago. And I’m sure that the race would be more interesting if they limited it to a 450cc engine capacity.”