HONDA

At just 32 years of age, Ricky Brabec is already the elder statesman of the Monster Energy Honda Team, home to some of the Dakar's biggest favourites on two wheels. The son of bike racing parents, the California native spent many years competing successfully in BMX before switching to offroad, where he picked up wins at some of the USA's most prestigious events: Baja 500, Baja 1000 and Vegas to Reno. He also secured the three biggest crowns in desert racing: AMA Hare & Hound, Best in the Desert and SCORE International. Ricky's huge talent and potential brought him to the attention of HRC, who invited him to take part in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in 2015. After taking a highly impressive fifth place, he never looked back, jumping headfirst into the sport of rally-raid. He signed as a Honda factory rider ahead of Dakar 2016, quickly showcasing his abilities with a promising ninth place overall. A first stage win followed in 2017, but it was only in 2020 -after a frustrating run of three straight withdrawals- that Ricky put the pieces of the puzzle together and became the first American to win the Dakar. As well as earning himself a place in the motorsport history books, he also notched Honda's first victory in the bikes in over 30 years. Ever since he lifted the Bedouin trophy four years ago, Ricky has been desperate to get his hands on another. He nearly went back-to-back in 2021, but lost time early on and had to settle for second behind former teammate Kevin Benavides. It was a similar story in 2022, with navigation woes on the first full stage putting him out of overall contention. In 2023 he crashed out on Stage 3, luckily avoiding any serious injury. Ricky often says that anything less than victory is unacceptable, but concedes that it's extremely tough to conquer the Dakar. He had a somewhat mixed season in the World Rally-Raid Championship, claiming top-10s in Abu Dhabi and Mexico and a podium in Argentina, but retiring due to mechanical issues in Morocco. He also feels the new bonus system needs refining so as not to overly advantage the openers. He will be determined to help Honda reestablish their supremacy over the KTM group. With riders like Pablo Quintanilla, Adrien Van Beveren, Nacho Cornejo and Ricky's old buddy and rival Skyler Howes, the red armada certainly have the firepower to strike gold in Saudi Arabia.