2024 Dakar Rally: Xavier de Soultrait wins in SSV for Polaris

Rally raid’s side-by-side classes have been a playground for Can-Am in recent years, having won the Dakar Rally every year since 2018 in both the production-based T4 (now SSV) and race-spec T3 (Challenger) divisions. Hoping to break their iron fist, Polaris elected to break out their Polaris RZR Pro R Factory that dominated the deserts of Baja California in 2023 for the 2024 Dakar Rally, fielded by Sébastien Loeb Racing.

Despite being severely outnumbered by Can-Am Mavericks, Polaris Factory Racing technical director Alex Scheuerell told The Checkered Flag he was “very confident” that the Pro R Factory can impress with Xavier de Soultrait and Florent Vayssade behind the wheel. Soultrait did not let him down.

In just his second Dakar on four wheels after previously competing on a bike, Soultrait held off the Can-Am of Jérôme de Sadeleer for Polaris’ first Dakar victory since Leandro Torres won the inaugural SSV class crown in 2017; Polaris had also won adjacent SSV classes at the Dakar every year since 2013, making 2024 their seventh win total. Soultrait set the tone early by winning the Prologue before a run by Can-Ams took place over the first four stages with those like Gerard Farrés and World Rally-Raid Championship favourites João Ferreira and Sara Price leading the way.

Soultrait broke the trend with back-to-back wins in Stage #5 and the Chrono Stage, moving him up to third overall. He took the top spot from Seaidan after finishing second to Ferreira in Stage #7. Seaidan struggled the next day and fell off, as did Ferreira a stage later due to losing fuel pressure, which gave Soultrait a half-hour cushion over the field. This was quickly whittled down when he received ten minutes of penalties for not letting the faster Price overtake him during Stage #10, and Sadeleer winning the penultimate leg enabled him to slice the gap down to less than three minutes.

Although Sadeleer beat Soultrait in Stage #12, he only did so by twenty-four seconds. Vayssade won the stage to cap off an impressive effort for SLR and the Pro R Factory.

“It’s truly the culmination of a dream,” said Soultrait. “It’s hard for me to believe that we won this Dakar. I think we raced intelligently, we put pressure on, but we never overdrove. It was our first race with this new Polaris RZR Pro R Factory, and frankly, we couldn’t have asked for better. I am very happy to have shared this with Martin, we really made a great team, and I of course want to thank the entire Loeb Racing and Polaris Factory Racing team who prepared a perfect car for us; this victory is the fruition of all the teams’ efforts.”

While coming up short, a runner-up finish is still something to be proud of for Sadeleer, who made his return to the Dakar after injuries prevented him from racing in 2023. Seaidan joined them on the podium, beating Price by seven minutes, and became the W2RC SSV points leader as Soultrait and Sadeleer are not registered for the championship.

Price was the first American woman to win a Dakar stage when she claimed Stage #10, the same day that her boyfriend Ricky Brabec won the leg in RallyGP en route to his second Dakar bike triumph. Ferreira, who won in his SSV début in Morocco last October, rounded out the top five.

Emilija Gelažninkienė recorded an impressive ninth-place class finish, rebounding from a disastrous start when she was flipped by another car in the opening stage. Christine GZ, another Dakar newcomer, finished thirteenth. The two and Price were among five women competing in the class along with Rebecca Busi, who finished twenty-second, and Maha Al-Hamali, who retired after a Chrono Stage rollover.

SSV overall results

Finish	Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Team	Time	Margin
1	411	Xavier de Soultrait*	Martin Bonnet	Sébastien Loeb Racing	56:37:43	Leader
2	420	Jérôme de Sadeleer*	Michael Metge	MMP Compétition	56:40:08	+ 2:25
3	408	Yasir Seaidan	Adrien Metge	MMP Compétition	57:42:11	+ 1:04:28
4	419	Sara Price	Jeremy Gray	South Racing Can-Am	57:48:58	+ 1:11:15
5	400	João Ferreira	Filipe Palmeiro	South Racing Can-Am	57:56:35	+ 1:18:52
6	409	Sebastián Guayasamín	Fernando Matias Acosta	FN Speed Team	60:20:44	+ 3:43:01
7	414	Cristiano de Sousa Batista	Fausto Mota	South Racing Can-Am	61:10:31	+ 4:32:48
8	402	Gerard Farrés*	Diego Ortega Gil	South Racing Can-Am	60:20:04	+ 4:42:21
9	426	Emilija Gelažninkienė*	Arūnas Gelažninkas	Rentway Dakar Team	67:44:45	+ 11:07:02
10	405	Florent Vayssade*	Nicolas Rey	Sébastien Loeb Racing	67:53:35	+ 11:15:52
11	435	Ricardo Ramilo	Marc Solà Terradellas	Scuderia Ramilo Rodamoto	68:10:44	+ 11:33:01
12	442	Enrico Gaspari	Aku Facundo Jaton	TH-Trucks Team	68:52:36	+ 12:14:53
13	429	Christine GZ*	Ricardo Torlaschi	FN Speed Team	70:57:22	+ 14:19:39
14	415	Jorge Waghenführ*	Humberto Ribeiro	Xtremeplus	71:55:15	+ 15:17:32
15	437	Martijn van den Broek	Jan-Paul van der Poel	Van Ham Racing	74:55:36	+ 18:17:53
16	407	Eduard Pons	Jaume Betriu	South Racing Can-Am	75:02:13	+ 18:24:30
17	440	André Thewessen	Dmytro Tsyro	ATS Rally	78:27:47	+ 21:50:04
18	425	Jeremie Renou*	Nicolas Larroquet	YDEO Competition	79:06:12	+ 22:28:29
19	436	Daniel Gonzalez Reina*	Jorge Hernandez Calva	TH-Trucks Team	79:06:37	+ 22:28:54
20	401	Shinsuke Umeda*	Maurizio Dominella	Xtremeplus	86:10:14	+ 29:32:31
21	427	Sander Derikx*	Ruud Vollebregt	QFF Racing	86:19:198	+ 29:41:35
22	406	Rebecca Busi	Sergio Lafuente	OnlyFans Racing	119:03:56	+ 62:26:13
23	424	Benoit Lepietre*	Benoit Bonnefoi	Team BTR	120:39:50	+ 64:02:07
24	416	Rodrigo Varela*	Enio Bozzano Jr.	BBR Motorsport	130:21:23	+ 73:43:40
25	430	Grzegorz Brochocki*	Grzegorz Komar	Overlimit	143:28:28	+ 86:50:45
26	431	Jose Vidaña*	Dani Camara Ordoñez	Pedrega Team	183:36:59	+ 126:59:16
DNF	404	Claude Fournier	Serge Gounon	BBR Motorsport	DNF	N/A
DNF	410	Michele Cinotto	Alberto Bertoldi	Xtremeplus	DNF	N/A
DNF	412	Juan Miguel Medero*	Javier Ventaja Cruz	Sodicars Racing	DNF	N/A
DNF	421	Eric Croquelois*	Anthony Pes	Drag’on Rally Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	428	William Grarre*	Julien Vincent	Team Horizon Off-Road	DNF	N/A
DNF	432	Maha Al-Hamali*	Marcin Pasek	RX Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	433	Jan-Willem van Mourik*	Eduard Hillebrand	PSR Racing Service	DNF	N/A
DNF	434	Domingo Román*	Oscar Bravo Garcia	TH-Trucks Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	438	Juan Font*	Borja Rodríguez	Scuderia Ramilo Rodamoto	DNF	N/A
DNF	441	Rafa Muñoz Cámara*	Jose Mata Rubiejo	Pedrega Team	DNF	N/A

SSV stage winners

Stage	Driver	Time
Prologue	Xavier de Soultrait*	18:38.5
Stage #1	Rodrigo Varela*	5:33:37
Stage #2	Gerard Farrés*	4:50:53
Stage #3	Yasir Seaidan	4:57:51
Stage #4	João Ferreira	3:13:09
Stage #5	Xavier de Soultrait*	1:44:56
Stage #6	Xavier de Soultrait*	8:25:10
Stage #7	João Ferreira	5:49:37
Stage #8	João Ferreira	3:46:46
Stage #9	Cristiano de Sousa Batista	5:02:30
Stage #10	Sara Price	3:51:19
Stage #11	Jérôme de Sadeleer*	5:21:36
Stage #12	Florent Vayssade*	2:00:57

W2RC SSV standings

For readability, competitors registered for the championship who have yet to earn points are not listed.

Drivers’ standings

Rank	Driver	Points	Margin
1	Yasir Seaidan	91	Leader
2	Sara Price	74	– 17
3	João Ferreira	73	– 18
4	Cristiano de Sousa Batista	52	– 39
5	Sebastián Guayasamín	42	– 49
6	Enrico Gaspari	31	– 60
7	Ricardo Ramilo	21	– 70
8	Eduard Pons	16	– 75
9	André Thewessen	13	– 78
10	Rebecca Busi	11	– 80

Co-drivers’ standings

Rank	Co-Driver	Points	Margin
1	Adrien Metge	91	Leader
2	Jeremy Gray	74	– 17
3	Filipe Palmeiro	73	– 18
4	Fausto Mota	52	– 39
5	Fernando Matias Acosta	42	– 49
6	Aku Facundo Jaton	31	– 60
7	Marc Solà Terradellas	21	– 70
8	Jaume Betriu	16	– 75
9	Dmytro Tsyro	13	– 78
10	Sergio Lafuente	11	– 80