But that will change in January 2013 as Honda has declared its return to the starting grid of the Dakar Rally. The Honda team, which will operate under the name Team HRC, will include Portuguese rider Helder Rodrigues, Brazilian Felipe Zanol, UK-native Sam Sunderland and Javier Pizzolito from Argentina.
"The Dakar requires competitors to cover several hundred kilometers per day for more than two weeks," Tetsuo Suzuk, head of Honda's motorcycle R&D, said. "It needs a totally different type of vehicle from 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."
Honda last participated in the Dakar Rally (known then as the Paris-Dakar Rally) during the nine-year stretch between 1981 and 1989, taking home five championships.
