Joan Pedrero is no stranger to rally raid competitions. The Spanish rider has several top-10 finishes in the Dakar Rally along with impressive results at the Morocco Rally, Sardinia Rally, and Transanatolia Rally Raid. Pedrero may be familiar with worldwide rally events, but Harley-Davidson isn’t.
The American manufacturer certainly has its share of American Flat Track titles in the trophy case, but the Motor Company only entered the full-size adventure bike segment with the Pan America 1250 in 2021. However, that isn’t stopping Harley-Davidson from taking on one of Europe’s premier rally events—the Baja España Aragón.
The 38th installment of the iconic rally will take place on July 22-24, 2022, and function as a round of the Spanish All Terrain Rally Championship. This year, the competition will include a Trail class, which accommodates modern-day, heavyweight ADVs. Harley will turn to experienced rally rider Joan Pedrero to lead the charge for the brand’s first rally raid outing.
Gallery: Baja España Aragón: Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250
To show off the Pan America 1250 true off-road capability, Harley-Davidson will enter a bone-stock example into the Baja España Aragón. The base model Pan Am weighs in at 540 pounds, but the firm’s liquid-cooled, Revolution Max 1250 V-twin should help the adventurer plow through tough terrain with 150 horsepower and 94 lb-ft of torque.
The team will need to replace the Pan America 1250’s standard 19-inch front and 17-inch rear cast wheels with the tubeless wheelset and Michelin Anakee Wild tires offered by the brand as add-on options. However, the adventure bike's 8.5 inches of ground clearance and 7.5 inches of suspension travel (fore and aft) should help Pedrero negotiate the challenging conditions of the Teruel desert.
Harley-Davidson may be a rookie in international rally events, but with big-bore ADVs comprising the rest of the Trail field, we can’t wait to see how the manufacturer stacks up. The only question left is which other flagship ADVs will join the new Baja España Aragón class?
