Monster Energy Honda HRC kicks off the 2025 Rally-Raid season!
Words and images courtesy Honda HRC
Less than a month before the first round of the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC), the Monster Energy Honda HRC team unveils its lineup for the 2025 season…
With the Dakar 2025 (the most iconic race on the calendar) as the opening challenge!
The team is determined to defend Ricky Brabec’s historic 2024 victory!
Confirmed 2025 Calendar
The W2RC 2025 calendar, announced last month, takes the championship across some of the world’s most legendary rally-raid terrains.
The five stages include:
- Jan 3-17 Dakar, Saudi Arabia
- Feb 21-27 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, United Arab Emirates
- May 18-24 South African Safari Rally, Republic of South Africa
- Sep 22-28 BP Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal, Portugal
- Oct 10-17 Rally du Maroc, Morocco
A Solid Structure
The Monster Energy Honda HRC team remains unchanged for 2025, emphasizing continuity with its five elite riders: Ricky Brabec, Tosha Schareina, Adrien Van Beveren, Skyler Howes, and Pablo Quintanilla.
Riders Ready for Action
Ricky Brabec.
The reigning 2024 Dakar champion, is working tirelessly to recover from an injury sustained at the Rallye du Maroc. His goal? To defend his title in peak condition at the world’s toughest race.
Tosha Schareina
Wrapped up a spectacular debut season with Monster Energy Honda HRC, securing a win in Portugal and podiums at Argentina’s Ruta 40 and the Rallye du Maroc.
Adrien Van Beveren
Fresh off an impressive third-place finish at the Dakar, is heading into the new season with clarity and renewed motivation.
Skyler Howes
After a 2024 season marred by injuries, enters Dakar 2025 in top shape, eager to showcase his exceptional potential.
Pablo Quintanilla
With unparalleled experience, approaches this season with the same passion and dedication that have defined his rally-raid career.
The CRF 450 Rally: A Machine in Constant Evolution
A cornerstone of the team’s success, the CRF 450 Rally was unveiled at the close of the previous season.
Over 2024, it has seen continuous upgrades, reflecting Honda’s unwavering commitment to innovation and excellence.
With these improvements, the CRF 450 Rally is ready to deliver top-tier performance across the harshest terrains…from towering dunes… to the most technical tracks.
Team HRC returns to the Dakar Rally, with the latest version of the stage-winning Rally bike!
In 2013, the participation of Team HRC with the prototype based on commercial competition enduro model, generated valuable information on key areas such as;
- Engine power
- Aerodynamic performance
- Durability
- Maintenance requirements
Which was used as a basis for the design of new CRF450 RALLY.
For 2015, the Rally bike was updated with some new technologic additions, maintaining the fuel injection system PGM-FI which has proven effective even under severe environmental conditions and highly variable as exist in Dakar!
For 2018 the bike is a further update to the 2017 and 2016 machine which led the Dakar Rally, and proudly wears the Monster claw.
This development process culminated in Honda’s return to winning ways; Ricky Brabec in 2020 and Kevin Benavides in 2021 reached the top place of the Dakar Rally.
Specifications: Honda CRF450 Rally
- Engine: Liquid-cooled single-cylinder DOHC
- Capacity: 449.4 cc
- Bore x stroke: 97.0 x 60.8mm
- Starter: Electric starter
- Carburation: Fuel Injection
- Lubricant: Motul 300V
- Transmission: 6-speed
- Output: Over 45 kW
- Frame type: Aluminium twin tube
- Sub-frame: Carbon fibre
- Fuel tank: Front + rear (plastic)
- Total fuel capacity: 35 litres
- Front fork: Showa. Type invert, travel 310 mm
- Rear suspension: Showa. Single tube, travel 305 mm
- Brakes front: ø300 2 pot
- Brakes rear: ø240 1 pot
New Gear for a Demanding Season
The riders will don cutting-edge gear from Alpinestars, designed specifically to enhance performance and comfort in the rally raid’s toughest conditions.
Join the Monster Energy Honda HRC team as they embark on another thrilling journey. With exciting challenges ahead, this season promises unforgettable moments.
A Strong Alliance with Monster Energy
Since 2017, Monster Energy has proudly served as the main sponsor of the team.
Fostering a close relationship built on a shared passion for competition and a drive for excellence!
This partnership has been instrumental in securing numerous successes, including the recent Dakar 2024 victory.
Together, Monster Energy and Honda HRC have established themselves as an undeniable force in the world of rally raid, united by common goals and celebrated historic triumphs.
The Dakar Spirit
The greatest and toughest rally in the world, the Dakar’s history has been written in the heart of some of the world’s most stunning deserts and belongs to the world of the greatest sporting challenges of our time!
Both a motor race and an orienteering challenge, the Dakar Rally pits some of the world’s greatest long-distance rally drivers against amateur competitors for whom the race is often the culmination of their dreams!
Who come to take up the challenge with their motorcycles, quad bikes, cars and trucks.
Participants of fifty nationalities come together every year for this race where competition and help go hand in hand, which is watched on television in 190 countries.
Having become an international event, which gathers together men and women of more than 50 different nationalities!
The Dakar draws on a thirst for interaction and the open-mindedness of its competitors, who all crave to explore the deserts of the world and to push themselves to the limit.
The places on the final podium represent an exceptional challenge, sometimes that of a lifetime.
They all speak the same language
Apart from the standings, all the competitors are motivated by this resolute desire, an almost crazy dream to finish the race.
Whether they are motorcyclists, car drivers, truckers, or quad riders, they all share this ambition, a feeling that brings them together.
The tradition of solidarity, a principle which is one of the pillars of the ‘Dakar Spirit’, stems from this shared passion. They all speak the same language.
The Dakar ranks as one of the greatest challenges of all extreme competitions.
It is the pinnacle of the motor sports discipline and inspires adventurers as much now as it ever has.
More than just a simple question of racing and speed, the Dakar requires off-piste navigational skills and consistency.
Extraordinary Event
In off-road races, endurance prevails and the slightest mistake costs dearly.
Coping with the living conditions, managing fatigue, and weighing up the risks of the race, can only be achieved by a combination of peak physical condition and impeccable technical skills.
Over the past thirty-six years, this combination of physical rigour and technical performance has appealed to champions and little-known competitors from a wide variety of backgrounds. All wanting to experience and make their mark on this extraordinary event.
Just as it focused attention on the deserts of Africa for some thirty years, since 2009, the Dakar has offered participants the chance to discover the wide-open spaces of South America.
It gives drivers from around the world the chance to plunge into the heart of nature in a majestic setting which changes on a daily basis.
The richness of these deserts and the almost endless possibilities for new race routes, are combined with the opportunity to discover the populations and cultures, whose roots lie deep in the civilisations which preceded us.
Between seven and eight hundred competitors come together every year for this race, where competition and help go hand in hand, which is watched on television by a billion viewers in 190 countries.
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