Mr Houlihan and his wife Katie head to Spain for the first round of the European Off-Road Rally Championships, the Hispania Rally in Valencia.

The event covers 1500 kilometres of mountain and enduro tracks over four days of racing.

Last May while competing in the Hellas Rally Raid, Mr Houlihan collided head-on with a racer who was going the wrong way. 

He sustained multiple fractures and spent about a month in under-resourced Greek hospitals before being medically evacuated back to Australia.

Even while still recovering, the rider was determined to continue the sport.

"The accident was on the last day of the race but up until then, it was amazing, it's opened up a whole new world for us," he told The Border Mail last year.

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The Hispania Rally represents another step towards Mr Houlihan's plan to compete in the 2021 Dakar Rally.

"Hispania will be a big event with 150 entries and Katie and I will finally get a chance to personally thank many that assisted us with my accident in Greece," he said this week.

"The decision to keep racing has certainly been a challenge that some people don't understand and don't support, but I wouldn't be doing this without Katie being 100 per cent behind me.

"Our goal for 2019 is to finish each rally safely and learn from the very experienced people that we will be surrounded by."

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