DAKAR RALLY: Monster Energy Honda HRC make confident start in Dakar Prologue
Words and images courtesy Honda HRC
Monster Energy Honda HRC have been in Saudi Arabia since Christmas readying themselves for the huge challenge that is the 2025 Dakar Rally.
With a team roster from around the globe that includes Americans Ricky Brabec and Skyler Howes, Chilean Pablo Quintanilla and two Europeans, Tosha Schareina and Adrien Van Beveren, they have been acclimatising themselves on the shores of the Red Sea at Jeddah.
They rung in the new year with a shakedown test aboard their Honda CRF450 RALLY bikes around the first bivuoac at Bisha, a town in the south-western Saudi Arabian province of ‘Asir.
This was followed by press conference duties the day prior to the start for the 2024 Dakar Rally winner, Ricky Brabec and third place finisher last year.
Adrien Van Beveren, along with administrative checks and scrutineering of the Hondas and riders’ kit at the Bisha bivouac with the team now ready for the first day of the 2025 World Rally-Raid Championship.
The Kickstart.
The 47th edition of the Dakar Rally got underway on January 3 with a timed 29km prologue stage near Bisha in Saudi Arabia as the world’s best rally raid riders, focused on their goal of finishing in the top ten! So that they could choose their starting positions for stage one tomorrow.
The longer prologue featured rocky passes and riverbed tracks with American Skyler Howes first off the line for Monster Energy Honda HRC.
Returning from injury he finished the stage in eighth less than a minute off the quickest time of 16’51”.
His fellow American, defending champion Ricky Brabec, was slightly disappointed with his third place, just 18 seconds off the best time as next up was 2024’s prologue king, Tosha Schareina who had to navigate around some slower cars on the route.
Following behind were the experienced Dakar Legends Pablo Quintanilla, who rode a steady 29 kilometres without taking any risks and then Adrien Van Beveren in seventh who was glad to get the action started and release some of the pre-rally pressure he was feeling.
It was mission accomplished for Monster Energy Honda HRC as all the riders will now get to choose their places in the start line order for tomorrow’s stage when they are back at the Bisha bivouac this evening.
Ricky Brabec said: “Today was OK, not bad but not great. It was good to start the rally with a prologue full speed and get the bugs worked out. There’s nothing to do for the rest of the day, we’ll hang out and then choose our position for tomorrow. That’ll be a little tricky and then hopefully tomorrow we can land in a good position for the 48 Hour Chrono and set ourselves off for a good start.”
Tosha Schareina wound up fourth, seven seconds off Brabec, and said: “It was a good, super-fast 29km prologue and I did catch some cars which got in my way, so I just tried to ride smooth and get to the finish line so I can be ready to start tomorrow and go for it for 400 kilometres.”
48 Hour Chrono.
There will be nearly 500km of riding on stage one, 413km of it against the clock over a mixture of terrain on a southern loop from Bisha; stony sections, sand and tricky navigation amongst the labyrinth of tracks will put them through their paces as they also strategise for the upcoming 48 Hour Chrono.
That second 48hour stage over two days is one of the hardest tests in any form of motorsport with all competitors sleeping out under the stars with simple rations for overnight food, but Monster Energy Honda HRC are the reigning ‘champions’ of the 48 Hour Chrono after Adrien Van Beveren won it last year.
Ruben Faria, General Manager, said: “The prologue is all done, it was a good warm up for all the Monster Energy Honda HRC riders and they’re all in the top ten so they can choose their positions for the start tomorrow. All the Honda CRF450 RALLY bikes are in good working order, the riders feel good on them and tomorrow is when the race starts proper. I hope that they can do a good stage without any mistakes, the Dakar is long and the first goal is to get to the rest day in the top positions to then be able to fight for the podium at Shubaytah.”
For more Racing News, head to SuperBike Magazine – Racing Category !