Honda Clinches the 2021 Dakar Rally; Kevin Benavides, Champion, & Ricky Brabec, Runner-up in the World’s Toughest Race

Monster Energy Honda Team has done it again at the 2021 Dakar Rally, snatching the overall win with a one-two finish for the team who dominated throughout. Kevin Benavides sees a dream come true as he becomes a Dakar champion. Ricky Brabec, runner-up overall, took the spoils on the final special stage. The team went all guns blazing in the 2021 Dakar Rally in a bid to hold on to the title clinched last year by American Ricky Brabec.Kevin Benavides claimed the triumph after twelve gruelling stages. Ricky Brabec accompanied him on the podium in second place. It was an intense, yet intriguing 202-kilometer special stage, which brought down the curtain on the Dakar Rally on the shores of the Red Sea. And it could not have been a happier one for the elated Monster Energy Honda Team riders.Monster Energy Honda Team ruled the roost throughout the world’s toughest race for a second consecutive year, as the squad proved to have greater riders and superior mechanical firepower, winning 10 stages and leading nine of the thirteen days of racing. Kevin Benavides made history to become the first South American rider ever to hold aloft the winner’s heavy bronze Touareg. The Argentinean, whose consistency turned out to be the decisive factor, claimed two stage wins in the rally. Honda’s success was rounded out with runner-up spot going to American Ricky Brabec. The winner of last year’s edition finished with a final tally of four stage wins.The last time Honda managed a one-two in the Dakar Rally was back in 1987 at the hands of Cyril Neveu and Edi Orioli.