Honda has announced its intention to participate as a works team in the motorcycle class of the Dakar Rally to be held in January 2013 in South America, travelling north to south through Peru, Chile and Argentina.

Honda competed nine times in the motorcycle class in the forerunner of the present Dakar Rally, the Paris-Dakar Rally, from 1981 through to 1989, and was a winner five times during that period. It has been 23 years since it last participated in the Rally.

The Honda team, to be called Team HRC, will include Portuguese rider Helder Rodrigues, who took third place in the 2012 Dakar Rally, Brazilian Felipe Zanol, who brings a wealth of experience in motocross and enduro race events, as well as Sam Sunderland and Javier Pizzolito.

“The Dakar requires competitors to cover several hundred kilometers per day for more than two weeks,” said Tetsuo Suzuki, of Honda R&D Co. Ltd. “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.”

They will ride a prototype machine developed and produced by the Motorcycle R&D Center at Honda R&D. The prototype machine is based on the CRF450X, the popular worldwide enduro racing model that combines ease of handling with superior competitive strength.

Kit parts designed for use on the standard CRF450X model have also been developed and will be supplied to a limited number of teams.