Honda to field three-rider team in 2013 Dakar Rally

The Team Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) will participate in the 2013 Dakar Rally in the motorcycle category, in South America with a three-rider team instead of the five-rider team that they had earlier announced in the month of October.

An official HRC statement says, “Felipe Zanol and Sam Sunderland have been part of the program since the foundation of Team HRC and have participated in all testing and the Morocco Rally. They both gave us valuable advice on how to improve the competition machine. Unfortunately, they will miss the final event but I believe they are still part of the team. As our team ethic is a big part of our strength, we will continue with our goal of winning the Dakar.”

After announcing a five-rider team in October, Team HRC has now zeroed in on a three-rider format, featuring Helder Rodrigues (Portugal), Javier Pizzolito (Argentina) and Johnny Campbell (USA), since Felipe Zanol and Sam Sunderland were injured during pre-Dakar tests in the Mojave Desert in the US in early December.