Introduction of 2023 Dakar Rally Husqvarna Factory Team
The Swedish brand Husqvarna has a very long history. It can be traced back to the Royal Swedish Arsenal in 1689 and has been producing firearms until 1989. Husqvarna began to produce motorcycles in 1903. In 1978, it was purchased by the famous household appliance brand Electrolux, and then the motorcycle business was separated. After several changes of ownership, it became the second complete vehicle brand under the KTM parent company in 2013 after a brief stay under the Italian Kajiva and German BMW. Under the leadership of KTM, Hoswana began to form a team to participate in Dakar in 2016, and the best result so far is the runner-up of Jintanilla in 2020.
Husqvarna's Dakar lineup in 2023 is the same as that of last year. Luciano and House are still partners. Both bikers have been in good condition for 22 years. However, Husqvarna is not as lucky as KTM and GasGas. Because there are no champion bikers to join them, they not only failed to get the sponsorship of Red Bull, but also lost the sponsorship of Rockstar sports drinks.
No.77 biker Luciano Benavides: steady recovery
Best achievements in Dakar: 6th in 2020, 9th in 2019
Achievements in 2022: 2nd in Morocco, 3rd in Andalusia, 4th in total annual points
Nationality: Argentina
Height: 1.71m
Weight: 74kg
Luciano's racing dream originated from the rally held at his home when he was 13 years old. Kevin, who was 7 years older than him, has also been setting an example for him, especially the Dakar championship won by Kevin in 2021 has given Luciano more motivation. Luciano is proving to the world the racing talent of the Benavides family step by step.
Luciano learned a lesson in the first stage of Dakar in 2022. A navigation error cost him more than an hour. In the following stage, he tried to catch up but only got the 13th place in the total score. In the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in March, Luciano won the first stage championship of his career and reached an important milestone. The champion of this stage gave him great encouragement. Later, in the Moroccan Rally, the Andalusian Rally and the Atacama Rally, he won two runners-up and a third place, and took the podium for three consecutive times. In terms of annual total points, he lagged behind Honda biker Bevren by 6 points, ranking fourth and failed to reach the annual total awards stage.
Luciano learned from the experience and lessons learned in Dakar, as if he had obtained a panacea, and was not happy to put it into practice in the subsequent competitions. He felt like a new person, and had greatly improved his experience in the competition. In addition, Luciano also mentioned that the team has a new adjustment in engine, shock absorption and setting, which gives him unprecedented confidence. His goal this year is to enter the top three places in Dakar.
No. 10 biker Skellehaus: Sell all his possessions for racing
Dakar Best Performance: 5th in 2021
Achievements in 2022: 1st in Morocco, 1st in Sonora, 1st in Silver State 300, 1st in Vegas to Reno
Nationality: United States
Height: 1.9m
Weight: 85 kg
There is an inspirational story behind the 1.9-meter strong man Skellehaus. He participated in Dakar for the first time as an individual biker in 2019, but failed to finish the race. In 2020, he entered again, not only successfully completed the race, but also won the ninth place. In 2021, in order to obtain more powerful backup support and achieve a breakthrough in performance, he hoped to join the factory team. In the end, only the KTM satellite team BAS KTM was willing to provide him with free factory racing and technical support, but the condition was that he would bear the road and registration fees for the competition. For this reason, he almost sold all his possessions, and his determination to break the boat not only supported him to get the fifth best result in the total score, but also won him the three-year contract of the Husqvarna factory team.
In the Dakar Rally in 2022, House, who played for the first time on behalf of the factory team, was unlucky and dropped out of the race in the fifth stage. Fortunately, he was not injured, and soon regained his form in the subsequent races. He won the championship in the Moroccan Rally by defeating the bikers of the famous factory teams including Kevin, Brabeck and Sunderland. Then he raced back to the United States, swept the Sonora Rally and won the championship in all five stages. The Sonora Rally will be added to the W2R Rally Championship system in 2023, which is believed to be of great help to House's annual points. I believe that House will become a hot spot to win the championship in Dakar this year.