Honda Gets Serious: Why the New Rally2 Team Is More Than a Development Project
While most attention in the World Rally-Raid Championship is focused on the RallyGP stars of KTM and Honda, HRC is building something one level below that could be at least as interesting for the future of the sport: its own Rally2 works team.
With the Monster Energy Honda HRC Rally2 Team, Honda has created a dedicated structure for the second-highest motorcycle class of the World Rally-Raid Championship for the first time in 2026. And the first results suggest that this is evidently far more than a youth project for marketing purposes.
Honda Builds Its Own Talent Ladder
Until now, Honda’s rally raid programme consisted mainly of a high-calibre RallyGP team. Riders such as Ricky Brabec, Tosha Schareina and Adrien Van Beveren fight for Dakar victories and the W2RC title on the CRF450 Rally.
Below that, however, a development step of its own was missing. Honda is now closing exactly that gap with Rally2.
The initial line-up includes the Portuguese rider Martim Ventura and the American Preston Campbell. When presenting the team, Honda stated its aim quite clearly: to develop young riders and, at the same time, to strengthen the long-term future of its own rally raid programme.
Later, the Brazilian enduro specialist Bruno Crivilin joined as another interesting rider. Honda therefore has three talents within its own system who can develop under real rally raid conditions.
The Results Are Coming Faster Than Expected
That Honda takes the project seriously in sporting terms was shown at the latest by the Desafío Ruta 40 2026 in Argentina.
Martim Ventura won the Rally2 classification there. Team-mate Bruno Crivilin finished second, Preston Campbell fourth.
On one of the stages, Honda even achieved a complete Rally2 sweep: the three HRC riders took the first three places between them.
That is remarkable for a programme still in its first season.
So Honda is not only developing riders. At the same time, the company is gathering data on the motorcycle, navigation, set-up and the demands placed on young riders under genuine W2RC conditions.
The Bike Is Almost as Interesting as the Riders
The team does not ride the RallyGP factory machine of Brabec or Schareina, but the Honda CRF450RX Rally.
And this is exactly where the project also becomes interesting for ambitious privateers.
The CRF450RX Rally is based much more closely on a production off-road motorcycle than the highly specialised CRF450 Rally of the RallyGP team. Honda cites, among other things, a frame based on the CRF450R and a fuel capacity of around 36 litres.
- CRF450 Rally: uncompromising RallyGP factory motorcycle
- CRF450RX Rally: Rally2 and development platform
The exciting question now is what Honda has in mind for this machine in the long term.
Will it remain exclusively an HRC development motorcycle? Or will it eventually become a platform that is also available to customer teams and privateers?
The second route in particular would be highly interesting for the Rally2 scene.
Rally2 Is Becoming Ever More Strategically Important
Rally2 is often regarded as the “second division” below RallyGP. In fact, though, the class is increasingly becoming the most important stepping stone into professional rally raid.
Michael Docherty is a good example. After strong Rally2 performances with BAS World KTM, he moved to the works programme at Hero MotoSports in 2026.
Tobias Ebster has also taken a similar path: from successful privateer via Rally2 and Hero to the new ZXMOTO works project.
This creates a problem for manufacturers: anyone who only looks for talent once it dominates Rally2 is competing with every other works team for the same riders.
Honda is now solving this problem differently: HRC is trying to develop the talent itself.
Ventura, Campbell or Crivilin – Who Will Make the Leap?
That means an interesting story is already beginning within the new team.
Martim Ventura has shown with his win in Argentina that he can win Rally2 races at W2RC level.
Preston Campbell brings a remarkable off-road family story. His father Johnny Campbell is among the best-known American off-road racers and is closely linked to Honda’s motorsport history.
Bruno Crivilin, in turn, comes from enduro and brings a different riding background to the programme.
Three riders. Three different paths into rally raid. And possibly all three are chasing the same goal in the long term:
A place in the Honda RallyGP team.
That is precisely why it should be interesting to see who is the first to get test kilometres on the big CRF450 Rally.
Honda Is Not Simply Copying KTM
At first glance, the strategy recalls the system with which KTM has been developing riders for years. The difference lies in the structure.
KTM has a large network of customer teams and Rally2 structures. Teams such as BAS World KTM have repeatedly produced riders who later became interesting to works teams.
Honda is now bringing this development step more firmly in-house.
That means more control over rider development, the motorcycle, data and training methods.
And this may create direct competition for the best young rally raid riders:
KTM customer racing against Honda works youth.
For Rally2, this could become a decidedly interesting development.
What Does This Mean for Amateur Riders?
At first glance, little. An HRC Rally2 team is still a long way from a rider who is just planning their first roadbook rally.
In the long term, the project could nevertheless have an impact. After all, rally raid needs a clear career ladder.
Roadbook training → amateur rally → larger international rally → Rally2 → works team → RallyGP.
The stronger Rally2 becomes, the more interesting this ladder also becomes for ambitious privateers.
It would therefore be particularly exciting if Honda were one day to use its CRF450RX Rally not exclusively for its own works team, but gave customer teams access to a comparable platform.
That would be a real challenge to the Rally2 world, which is currently strongly shaped by KTM. For now, however, that remains wishful thinking.
The Real Story Is Only Just Beginning
The results of the first season are impressive. But the more important question is not how many Rally2 stages Honda wins in 2026.
The decisive question is:
What happens to the riders afterwards?
If Ventura, Campbell or Crivilin actually make the leap into the RallyGP works team within the next few years, it would prove that Honda has built a functioning talent pipeline of its own.
And if the CRF450RX Rally eventually also becomes a genuine customer motorcycle or a platform for further Rally2 teams, the project could have a much greater impact still.
That is why it is worth watching Honda Rally2 closely.
For while Brabec, Schareina, Sanders and Benavides fight over seconds at the front, the next generation of rally raid stars could be emerging in the class behind.
Make It Rally Watchlist
- Martim Ventura: Can he confirm his Rally2 wins?
- Preston Campbell: How quickly will he develop in international rally raid?
- Bruno Crivilin: Will he remain a permanent part of the HRC Rally2 project?
- CRF450RX Rally: Will it remain a pure factory machine, or will Honda open up the platform?
- RallyGP test: Who gets to ride the Honda CRF450 Rally first?
Sources: Honda Racing Corporation / Monster Energy Honda HRC, World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC), official results of the Desafío Ruta 40 2026.