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NEWS
Honda eyes Dakar glory
Honda has announced it will contest the 2013 Dakar Rally in South America with a prototype based on the CRF450X enduro -- 23 years after its last attemptHonda recently revealed its intention to tackle the 2013 Dakar Rally with a factory squad, the works team set to pit a prototype racer based on the marque's CRF450X (see accompanying artist's impression) against the harsh terrain of South American nations Peru, Chile and Argentina.
Although 'Big Red' has contested the previous Paris-Dakar Rally some nine times, it has been a long 23 years since it last attempted the prestigious event, in 1989.
Team HRC, as it will be known, is a truly international affair, and will field Portugal's Helder Rodrigues, Brazil's Felipe Zanol, Britain's Sam Sunderland and Argentina's Javier Pizzolito. Rodrigues in particular should prove a force to be reckoned with -- he claimed third place in the 2012 Dakar Rally.
Honda has said that various kit parts designed for the CRF450X will also be developed and made available to a limited number of Dakar teams.
According to Tetsuo Suzuki, the rather unfortunately named head of the Motorcycle R&D Centre at Honda R&D Co, Honda is aiming for victory right from the outset.
"The Dakar requires competitors to cover several hundred kilometres per day for more than two weeks," he said. "It needs a totally different type of vehicle compared to 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," he added.
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Written byBikesales Staff
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