Jarno D’Orsogna hopes to make his Dakar Rally debut in 2027, and will begin his journey in familiar company. He will ride the Honda CRF450RX Rally in partnership with RS Moto.

It is a reunion of sort for D’Orsogna, who used to work for Honda in the air quality department.

D’Orsogna has raced bikes since he was five years old. After taking a few years off, he resumed his career in enduro and enjoyed success in Italy’s regional series. He later tried out cross-country rally and won the 2022 Ténéré Challenge 700 GPX, which is part of the Italian Motorally Championship.

In January, D’Orsogna joined the Ténéré Spirit Experience for the Africa Eco Race. He finished 51st overall and 11th among Multi-Cylinder bikes.

His CRF450RX features a livery modeled after the Honda NS125R Adriatico, a 125cc motorcycle built by Honda’s Italian branch in Atessa in the 1980s. Honda Italia members were also present at D’Orsogna’s reveal event last Saturday.

To qualify, he intends to run the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal in March and the Desafío Ruta 40 in May. After that, he’ll tackle the Italian Motorally Championship.

Featured image credit: Videocittà