For the second year in a row, Honda won the Dakar Rally’s motorcycle category, with Kevin Benavides (Argentina) taking 1st place and Ricky Brabec (USA) taking 2nd.

For the second year in a row, Honda earned the overall victory in the Dakar Rally?s motorcycle category, with Argentinean Kevin Benavides finishing ahead of Monster Energy Honda teammate Ricky Brabec, the Southern Californian who last year became the first winner from the USA. It was the first Dakar Rally win for the 32-year-old Benavides, who rode his first Dakar Rally in 2016, and the first time in 34 years that Honda took the top two spots in the grueling international endurance event, with Cyril Neveu and Edi Orioli having managed the feat in 1987.

Ricky Brabec (USA), who won the 2020 Dakar Rally, came in 2nd place in 2021.
It was a dominant performance by Honda Racing Corporation?s factory rally effort, whose CRF450 Rally-mounted riders won nine of 12 stages plus the prolog?two stages by Benavides, three stages and the prolog by Brabec, three stages by Joan Barreda and one stage by Jose Cornejo. Barreda and Cornejo were forced to drop out of the race?the former after missing a fuel stop and running out of fuel, and the latter following a hard crash.

The thrill of victory is shared by the Honda Dakar Rally team.

?Congratulations Kevin Benavides!? said Yoshishige Nomura, President of Honda Racing Corporation. ?I am also truly grateful to Ricky Brabec for completing such a grueling rally in...