Well known within the motor sport world for its innovative and ground-breaking approach to competitive motor sport, Motul is one of the world’s leading companies in the field of motorcycle lubricants and lubrication. A successful and well-established technical partnership with Honda, via its Honda Racing Corporation (HRC) subsidiary, is now set to be increased with one aim in mind – victory in the 2014 Dakar Rally. The world-famous event is due to take place in Argentina, Bolivia and Chile in January next year.
Motul and HRC have worked together for the last year beginning with the Dakar 2013. After an absence of 24 years, HRC returned with great fanfare to the event with the intention of using 2013 as a learning curve.
It has now launched its plans for 2014 which include a brand new, purpose-built motorcycle, the Honda CRF450 Rally, lubricated by Motul’s products. Honda places the greatest emphasis on its rally raid programmes such as Dakar, and Motul is a highly visible partner to the Japanese giant. As well as its involvement in the Dakar event, Motul is also partnered with the 2012 title-winning HRC team in the Japanese Motocross Championship.
Motul has been working directly with HRC in Japan to provide a lubricant formulated for the Dakar which is recognised as being the world’s greatest rally raid adventure with the most punishing of competitive environments. There is no room for any mechanical weakness and Motul’s proven technical reliability in this arena is vital to its competitors; engine changes are punished by penalties, and the lubricants must be able to work at the limit of extreme temperatures and performance as well as protecting the engine.
Motul Group’s President of the Management Board, Monsieur Hervé Amelot, said of the extended collaboration: “We are delighted with our on-going, successful technical partnership with HRC, and are looking forward to an even more productive year in 2014. Historically Motul and HRC have a long history together, with the highlight to date being the 1989 Paris-Dakar victory of Gilles Lalay on a Honda NXR 750 which carried Motul’s colours. We wish HRC every success in 2014 and have every confidence in seeing them reach the highest step of the podium.”
The factory team will field a 5-strong international rider line up: Helder Rodriguez and Paulo Goncalvez from Portugal, Briton Sam Sunderland, Javier Pizzolito of Argentina and Spaniard Joan Barreda, who was particularly impressive in the 2013 Dakar event by winning four stages. The rapid Barreda will definitely be one to watch in 2014!
Katsumi Yamasaki, Team HRC Project Leader, commented: “The Dakar is one of the hardest and most challenging motorsport events in the world, and one that can reward as greatly as it can punish. There are 20 days of racing and the lubricants we use are a key factor in reliability and therefore success. This is why it’s so important for us to have technical partnerships with companies such as Motul who are a leader in their field.”
