In 2025, Ricky Brabec will participate in the Dakar Rally for the tenth time. Once again representing Monster Energy Honda, he aims to replicate his victories from 2020 and 2024, despite a recent injury.
During an interview with the official Dakar website, the American admitted that the injury suffered during the Rally of Morocco is affecting his training, although he sees a positive aspect: ‘My knee and ligaments are 100%, which was the scary part after my fall in Morocco. It’s a shame that there was still an injury and I couldn’t continue the rally, but it’s insignificant compared to a total knee replacement or ligament damage. The only downside is the impact on my training, but there are other things I can do outside of riding. I feel like it could almost be better to be in this situation. Sometimes we train so hard when we’re at 100%, that by the time the Dakar arrives we’re a little exhausted’.
Reflecting on the 2024 edition, Brabec expressed his satisfaction with his performance and the journey: ‘I was really happy with my driving last year. During the previous Dakar in 2023, I crashed, so I wanted a little revenge for that. Our new bike is super awesome, really comfortable and fun to ride. I also feel that the Dakar 2024 route was much better suited to my driving style, it was a real route for dirt bikes and cars. Everyone asks me, where do you train for the Dakar if it’s all sand dunes? But we’re not stuck in the sand dunes all day for two weeks. It’s really cool that we can go from rocks to dunes to fast flowing rivers and then back to slopes. I love how we can have this variety in just one day. And the place where I live and train every week is like that too, a mix of everything’.
The driver will try to win the Dakar Rally for the third time, but the task will not be easy as he admitted: ‘Getting a first Dakar win or even a podium isn’t easy, people might say you were lucky. Getting a second is not easy. So getting three wins definitely won’t be easy, especially after winning in 2024. You have a big target on your back and everyone wants to beat you. To confirm what I did in 2024 and get three wins would be really great. In 2025 I want to chase the W2RC title and compete in every event’.
Senegal
