The Monster Energy Honda Team is ready for the Dakar Rally. 2023 team riders include Ricky Brabec, Adrien Van Beveren, Pablo Quintanilla and Jose Ignacio Comejo. The riders will tackle 14 stages across 3,100 miles of Saudi Arabian terrain on Honda CRF 450 Rally bikes. Brabec won the Rally in 2020 while former Honda Rider Kevin Benavides put Honda on the top spot on the podium in 2021.
“We have been working really hard in the preparation of the Dakar Rally 2023, focusing on navigation, speed and staying healthy. In 2020 we won the Dakar, not just me but also Honda. We are quite confident, since we almost did it in 2019 and we did it again in 2021. We are focused on reaching number one again, the confidence is there but preparation and staying healthy is key. It looks like the 2023 route has something in common with 2020, it can be more or less similar, I mean it’s going along the coast – which is the area that helped me a lot in 2020 with rocks and rough terrain. So I’m looking forward to riding in the same region again and hopefully we can secure some good times and some good stages in a way we can make it to the finish line in the top step. As a Dakar winner, maybe the pressure is not so high to me because I know I’ve been there before. But, as I always say, Rally is always a complicated game with so many variables that until the very last mile anything is possible, so let’s stay focused and do our best”, said Ricky Brabec.
The Rally starts December 31st with a Prologue that will determine starting order.
