Charlie Herbst has joined the GasGas family for the 2024 Dakar Rally, where he will race a GasGas RX 450F in the Rally2 category.
“After 7 months of waiting and impatience, it has finally arrived: the 450cc GasGas Rally 2023, a guarantee of reliability for attacking the dunes of Dakar 2024,” wrote Herbst on Thursday. “New bike, new colours, new series of immersive episodes, to bring you closer to us throughout the race! Something is brewing and we’ll tell you more soon…”
Herbst exclusively raced a KTM 450 Rally in his first four Dakar Rallies from 2019 through 2023. After retiring from his debut with a broken foot, he scored top-fifty overall finishes across the next three rounds.
Racing for Team All Tracks, he scored his best career run in the 2023 edition of thirty-third overall and seventeenth in Rally2.
GasGas does not have the same representation as major marques like KTM, Honda, and Husqvarna, but has enjoyed success in rally raid. Sam Sunderland won the 2022 Dakar Rally and inaugural World Rally-Raid Championship on a GasGas RX 450F, while his team-mate Daniel Sanders won the W2RC’s Sonora Rally in April. Michael Jacobi and James Hillier raced GasGas bikes in Rally2 at the 2023 Dakar Rally in January.
Outside of rally raid, the Spanish manufacturer is one of the top brands in the FIM Enduro and Trial World Championships. Last weekend’s Baja 400 saw Arturo Salas Jr. finish second among all bikes in the maiden SCORE International Pro Moto Unlimited race for GasGas, though he was relegated to fourth due to penalty.
The 2024 Dakar Rally begins on 5 January.