Husky Ready For Dakar Rally
Cycle News Staff | January 4, 2013
The 2013 running of the Dakar Rally starts tomorrow in Lima, Peru with riders set to cover some 5000 miles before arriving at the finish line in Santiago, Chile. A total of 189 motorcycles are expected to make the start as the Dakar races in South America for a fifth time since moving from Africa.
One of the teams ready to do battle is the Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain. The team, consisting of 16 members from nine different countries, has four official riders: Spaniard Joan Barreda, Portuguese Paulo Goncalves, Italian Alessandro Botturi and Australian Matt Fish. All have passed the technical and administrative checks and are ready for the first stage of the rally that will take them from Lima to Pisco with a 155-mile road section some eight miles of special test – an appetizer of sorts before the race gets thrown into the dunes and soft sand of the Peruvian desert.
Husqvarna Rallye Team by Speedbrain tasted success in 2012 when Barreda won the Pharaon’s Rally and he is aiming for a podium finish in the Dakar when the race concludes on January 20.
The team will ride Husqvarna TE449RRs, a bike that caught the attention of top “privateer” Jordi Viladoms, the Spaniard set to ride a factory supported Husky in the Tamarugal XC team. Jordi Arcarons, who raced in the Dakar some 16 times, will be Arcarons’ team manager.
“After preparations that have lasted practically the whole year, the entire team, the riders and the bikes are ready for the start of this amazing race,” said Speedbrain team manager Wolfgang Fischer in a team release. “Yesterday we tested out the bikes for the last time, and today there are the administrative checks. The riders are on top form and the team is united and psyched up to begin the first of 14 stages in the best way possible.”
