Monster Energy Honda Team riders place their trust in Laika

As the Dakar 2017 looms near, riders from the Monster Energy Honda Team – the official Honda factory team – can rest assured that after each of the gruelling stages, they will be able to put their feet up and relax in the comfort of vehicles supplied, once again, by Laika.

 The Monster Energy Honda Team caravan for the 39th edition of the Rally Dakar – which heads out from Asunción, Paraguay on 2nd January, crosses Bolivia as far as Lake Titicaca and winds up in the Argentine capital Buenos Aires – will feature no less than three Laika vehicles.

The team riders Joan Barreda, Michael Metge, Paulo Gonçalves, Ricky Brabec and Kevin Benavides have every faith in the quality of the vehicles which Laika have entrusted to them for yet another year. With over 9000 kilometres to be completed in under a fortnight, the riders and the whole structure have their work cut out. The Monster Energy Honda Team will take three motorhomes Laika Ecovips (412 and 612) equipped with Fiat Ducato engines, on an odyssey over every possible terrain type and climate. Competitors and crew in the epic race will have to endure the heat of Paraguay, the cold of Bolivia at over 4000 metres above sea-level and the desert dust of Argentina.

In the motorhomes, riders will be able to unwind and relax as they prepare their roadbooks and race strategies for the following day. With all the Laika vehicles fully-equipped with kitchens, bathrooms, living rooms and bedrooms, the Monster Energy Honda Team riders will certainly feel at home.

Martino Bianchi, General Manager of the Monster Energy Honda Team has outlined “The quality that is offered by this wide-range of Laika vehicles leaves no doubt when it comes to which vehicle to choose for the riders to rest in between stages”. Bianchi added that “our team needs reliable vehicles capable of withstanding the ruthless conditions that we find over two weeks of racing: with altitudes of over 4,000 metres and temperatures that vary from zero to forty-five degrees in some of the Argentinean desert regions. The Laika motorhomes can put up with all of these hardships and really help us to get through such an arduous race like the Rally Dakar”.