Despite not winning the 2023 Dakar Rally, the Prodrive Hunter had a dominant showing as Sébastien Loeb and Guerlain Chicherit combined to win seven of fourteen stages in the T1 class. X Rally Team is eager to try the vehicle out themselves as they formed a partnership with Prodrive to bring the Hunter to South American rally raid competition.
X Rally Team is a five-time champion of the Brazil-based Sertões Rally Championship, previously claiming the titles in the NWM Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux Overdrive. While the Hilux is the top vehicle in rally raid today, X Rally uses the Hilux T1 rather than the T1+ model that won the last two Dakar Rallies and the 2022 World Rally-Raid Championship with Nasser Al-Attiyah. Hoping to keep pace with other competitors, X Rally Team elected to make the switch to Prodrive.
“We opted for a new technical package from Prodrive, out of all the ones we tested,” explained X Rally CEO Beco Andreotti. “We are going to work very closely in 2023 and 2024, and the upcoming season will be one of intense work and preparation both for the Sertões and also for other races outside the country.
“In the last Sertões, we could not compete on equal terms within the category due to the big difference between T1 and T1+, and our focus now is to compete on equal terms with our opponents.”
As part of their deal, X Rally will establish a base in Évora, Portugal, while two Hunters compete in the Sertões Championship with brothers Cristian and Marcos Baumgart. One of the Hunters was driven by Loeb at Dakar.
“It is a pleasure for us to join forces between X Rally Team and Prodrive,” commented Prodrive principal Gus Beteli. “It is very gratifying to be able to show the strength of the Prodrive Hunter in Europe and South America. I hope that all the development on the car that won more than half of the Dakar stages this year, and the experience of the X Rally, will transform this partnership into many victories.”
The Hunters underwent an up-and-down Dakar Rally where they were either plagued by tyre punctures and other issues or running up front. This inconsistency doomed them from contending for the overall win, with Loeb claiming a record six stage victories in a row but settling for second.
Bahrain Raid Xtreme serves as the top Hunter outfit, fielding two cars for Loeb and Orlando Terranova. Chicherit is on a two-year deal to race the Hunter for his own team, while Vaidotas Žala became a Prodrive customer starting 2023. Terranova and Žala retired from the Rally while Chicherit finished tenth overall.
