Francisco “Chaleco” López

Current rally world champion, the Chilean athlete and heir to Carlo de Gavardo burns a trail through the wild lands of the world.

Francisco “Chaleco” López was born September 15, 1975 in the city of Curicó, in Chile’s central-southern zone. He started riding motorcycles at the age of four. His father, Renato, was three times national motocross champion and passed on the nickname “Chaleco” (sweater in Spanish) to his son, since Renato always wore a wool sweater to his competitions.

Throughout his sports career, “Chaleco” López has been Latin American motocross champion in1989 for the 85 cc category. Since then, he has gone on to win several awards both in Chile and overseas, always with his typical modesty. He was an official Honda rider and one of three professional riders in Chile. He rode the 2005 Patagonia-Atacama race in the cross country rally category, winning one of the stages and becoming the first rider to do so for the Honda Motocross Team.

López has been five times national motocross champion for the 125 cc category and another five times for the 250 cc category.

He represented Chile at the 2001 International Six Days Enduro in France, Brazil in 2003 and Chile in 2007. He was world cross country rally champion in the 450 cc category in 2006, sporting the colors of Honda Racing Chile.

“Chaleco” joined the KTM Racing Team in 2007. This team is considered the best in the world in its class. He rode with KTM for the FIM cross country rally world championship and the Dakar Series in the 690 cc category.