July 2, 2012 – Honda has announced its
intention to participate as a works team in the motorcycle class in the
Dakar Rally to be held in January 2013 in South America, travelling
north to south through Peru, Chile and Argentina. Honda competed nine
times in the motorcycle class in the forerunner of the present Dakar
Rally, the Paris-Dakar Rally, from 1981 through to 1989, and was a
winner five times during that period. Honda’s return to Dakar Rally next
year will be the first in 24 years since 1989.
The Honda team, to be called Team HRC, will include Portuguese rider
Helder Rodrigues, who took third place in the 2012 Dakar Rally, and
Brazilian Felipe Zanol, who brings a wealth of experience in motocross
and enduro race events, as well as Sam Sunderland (United Kingdom) and
Javier Pizzolito (Argentina). They will ride a prototype machine
developed and produced by the Motorcycle R&D Center at Honda
R&D.
The prototype machine is based on the CRF450X, the popular
worldwide enduro racing model that combines ease of handling with
superior competitive strength. Kit parts designed for use on the
standard CRF450X model have also been developed and will be made
available to a limited number of teams.
Tetsuo Suzuki, President, Honda Racing Corporation, commented “The
Dakar requires competitors to cover several hundred kilometers per day
for more than two weeks. It needs a totally different type of vehicle
from events such as motocross, trials and road races. Honda has put a
great deal of effort into designing and building a powerful and winning
machine. We are aiming for the championship from this first year.”
(Motor Sports Newswire)
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