American Ricky Brabec is rolled out as part of the 2016 Team HRC Dakar Rally squad.
Team HRC officially presented its factory rally team for 2016 in Spazio Campari, Italy, as part of the EICMA motorcycle show in Milan, and the event marked the official coming out for new Honda factory recruit and American hopeful Ricky Brabec.
Brabec, 24, is set to compete in his first Dakar Rally this January, but he brings solid off-road championship credentials to Team HRC, having earned the AMA National Hare & Hound Championship as well as the SCORE World Desert Championship, including prestigious wins on the SCORE Baja 1000 and the SCORE Baja 500. His talent caught the eye of Team HRC in 2015, and he was offered a tryout in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, part of the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship. Brabec impressed Honda with his fifth-place overall finish–the top-finishing Honda in the field. Brabec overcame a serious, career-threatening neck injury while competing in the AMA Hare & Hound Championship later in 2015, and he returned to the winner’s circle in the final Hare & Hound event of the season before signing a contract to become part of the Team HRC Rally effort.
Brabec joins a factory Honda squad that is entering its fourth Dakar Rally since Honda decided to return to the event after a 23-year hiatus. The truly international team of rally stars also includes Joan Barreda of Spain, Michael Metge of France, Paolo Ceci of Italy and former World Rally Champion Paulo Goncalves of Portugal, all competing aboard factory Honda CRF450 Rally models. Goncalves, 36, enjoyed a fine run in the 2015 Dakar Rally, scoring a runner-up finish after battling for the lead in the late stages of the event. Barreda, 32, led the early going in the rally, only to be derailed after his Honda suffered electrical difficulties as a result of the corrosive wet stage that was run across the Uyuni Salt Flats.
The remaining Team HRC riders are all making their Team HRC debuts in Dakar. Metge, 36, is a former Team Yamaha member renowoned for his all-round riding skills, his mechanical acumen and his talent for navigation. Ceci, 40, brings veteran talent to the team and is expected to be a major contributor in its goal to achieve a win.
Team HRC is once again working with Honda South America for the 2016 Dakar Rally, and the Honda South America Rally Team will also be aboard factory bikes CRF450 Rally machines for South American riders Javier Pizzolito and Kevin Benavides of Argentina, and Jean Azevedo and Adrien Metge of Brazil.
The rally is scheduled to begin January 3, 2016, kicking off an odyssey that will encompass 13 days and 8500 kilometers (about 5281 miles) of tracks, dunes, mountains and rivers. Temperatures are expected to run from 4 to 45 degrees Celsius (39 to 113 degrees Fahrenheit).
Your Privacy Choices