David Fretigne will not be competing in this year's Dakar rally. Fretigne was questionable following an injury in October at the Rally Libya, and now Fretigne and the BMW team have decided to pull Fretigne from the lineup. Fretigne will be replaced by Jose Helio Gonçalves Rodrigues Filho, better known as "Ze Helio," of Brazil.
"The Dakar kicks off in a few days," Fretigne said in a team release "I wish our Team BMW Motorrad by Speedbrain plenty of success in this new adventure. I hope that the fantastic job of the engineers and mechanics will pay off and the squad will score a top result. It´s a bitter pill to swallow not being able to compete, despite the huge efforts taken together with the Presport team in Perpignan."
Ze Helio will now be joining Team BMW Motorrad by Speedbrain. Ze Helio has won the Rally De Sertoes in Brazil, which is the second longest next to the Dakar, five times.
"I´m excited to race the Dakar for Team BMW Motorrad by Speedbrain," Ze Helio said. "I will do whatever I can to present a good result to the team. After the setback during the Rally dos Sertoes, I definitely want to use the opportunity to prove my skills and show what a strong bike the BMW is. My best wishes go to David. I´m looking forward to see him again at one of the next races."
The 2011 Dakar rally starts on January 1st. Ze Helio will join Frans Verhoeven ofHolland, Paulo Goncalves of Portugal, and Pedro Bianchi Prata of Portugal on the BMW team.
