Rieju is one of the top enduro brands in the business, but August Castellà wants to make it a household name in rally raid too. He is the lead engineer on the Spanish manufacturer’s Rally 307 project, which entails R&Ding the bike as well as competing with it.

The latter has proven to be an adventure, doing a variety of rallies across Europe and in the World Rally-Raid Championship. After completing the latter’s Desafío Ruta 40 and Rallye du Maroc, the ASO has given him the green light to make his Dakar Rally debut in January.

“For the past two years, I have been competing in every rally I could with two goals. The first is to develop and continuously improve the Rieju 307 rally, and the second has just been confirmed to me,” said Castellà on Thursday. “After competing on four continents, completing the Desafío Ruta 40 and the Maroc rally raid, I’ve been accepted to be on the starting line of the next Dakar Rally in 2027.

“There’s still a lot of work to do. We don’t even know where or how this Dakar Rally will be held, but I’m absolutely certain we’ll be there.”

While Rieju bikes have appeared at Dakar over the years, with Daniel Nosiglia even doing the 2025 Dakar in RallyGP on a 450cc model, Rally 307 is the first full-fledged factory effort by the company. The operation debuted in 2025 with Castellà at the Hellas Rally Raid, where he finished fifth in M1, before retiring from the Rallye du Maroc later that year.

He increased his calendar to include a mix of national rallies across Spain and W2RC events for 2026. Despite the much smaller 293cc engine, Castellà entered the Rally2 class alongside his 450cc counterparts. After finishing 37th in class at the Desafío Ruta 40, he was 69th at the Rallye du Maroc.

Finishing both races earned him points that bolstered his chances of being accepted by the ASO for Dakar, which ultimately succeeded.

Featured image credit: Rieju