The newly formed Rockstar Energy Husqvarna Factory racing team will contest for Dakar Rally 2016, the most important and gruelling rally raid compition in the annual motorsports calendar.
Riding the Husqvarna FR 450 Rally machine in the factory team colors will be Dakar veterans Pablo Quintanilla of Chile and Portugal’s Ruben Faria, with Frenchman Pela Renet contesting his first edition.
Pablo Quintanilla, at Christmas 2015 named “Best Rider of the Year” by the specialist media in Chile will start with the No. 4 bike after an excellent ride in the 2015 edition that saw him narrowly miss the podium. In fact, in the absence of the No.1 plate of the now retired Marc Coma, who won his fifth Dakar Rally last January, Quintanilla will be the third rider out. Quintanilla is contesting his fourth Dakar Rally and he believes the real test of endurance will come when the competition enters Bolivia.
Pablo Quintanilla: “I am very calm and happy with the Husqvarna factory bike because it’s reliable, very fast and very tough for this sport. This time we are not riding in Chile so there is no open desert, but the difficult navigation in Fiambalá, Belén and San Juan, plus the altitude and rainfall in Bolivia will make it difficult for everybody.”
Starting with No. 8 is Ruben Faria, a Dakar regular since 2006, and who delivered his best performance in 2013 when he finished second overall. Faria has had three top ten finishes in the Dakar and is very capable of a strong finish.
As the most Dakar-experienced of the Husqvarna trio, Faria said the most important aspects for him are the physical effort involved, and also the skill in navigation.
Newcomer to the rally team but not to the Husqvarna brand is French rider Pela Renet, who comes with a wealth of experience in MX and enduro racing and is a proven E2 World Champion. He first rode the FR 450 Rally in the Morocco Rally in October. He says he has always had a goal of competing in the Dakar Rally, and when the opportunity came up to ride for Husqvarna, it was an offer he couldn’t refuse.
In addition to the three official factory riders, Husqvarna are also supporting young Italian talent Jacopo Cerutti, who won his place in the Dakar Rally after an excellent sixth place result in the 2015 Sardegna Rally Race, one of the official Dakar Challenge events. Cerutti, who also comes into rally raid from enduro sport, will ride under the banner of the HT Husqvarna Team.
