At the shopping event: Hero signs former Honda / Rally Raid World Championship driver

After Hero driver Joaquim Rodriguez announced his resignation in March and will use his experience at Hero Motorsport as a sports consultant in the future, there was a gap in the team. When it became known at the beginning of April that the Honda Racing Corporation factory rally team was not extending the contract of Nacho Cornejo, it was already clear that the hero team boss Wolfgang Fischer had set his sights on the Chilean.

Cornejo proved to be a reliable driver in his six years at Honda and took nine stage victories at the Dakar. He finished the world’s toughest meet fourth in 2020 and sixth in 2022 and 2024. What also speaks for Cornejo: At 29, he is in his prime and can continue to compete at the highest level for years to come.

“I am very pleased that we were able to bring another strong member to our team with Nacho Cornejo. “He is a well-known figure in the Dakar camps and we have found that he fits perfectly with our team,” Fischer is convinced. “His track record is impressive and we are confident that the team will be more successful with him. As a team, we are now at a good point in our eight-year journey. We reached the stage of Dakar 2024 and we are leading the World Championship! We are proud and happy with our progress. Nacho joins us at the right time, replacing JRod, who has retired from racing and joins the team in a senior position.”

After pulling out of Yamaha, Hero Motorsports has already given Ross Branch a new sports home. Botswana is the current leader of the World Cup. And in November 2023, Cornejo’s former teammate Joan Barreda signed up for Dakar. The fourth heroic pilot is Sebastian Bühler, who was born in Duisburg.

Cornejo will make his Hero Games debut at the Desafio Ruta 40 in Argentina in June. “I am very happy to join Hero Motosports. The team is making a name for itself for all the right reasons. I have known the team for many years, they are all good friends on the slopes,” said the Chilean. “Hero has shown exceptional growth over the past few years and I know it can only go up from here.”