World Rally-Raid Championship

2024 Desafio Ruta 40: Ferioli wins Open Cars in Maverick R, Dabin claims Open Bikes

2 Mins read
Credit: Ferioli Racing Team

The Can-Am Maverick R will not be approved for FIA competition until 2025 at the soonest, but it has technically already won a race on the World Rally-Raid Championship.

For the second year in a row, Jeremías González Ferioli won the Desafío Ruta 40‘s Open Cars class for vehicles that do not meet FIA or FIM regulation and/or competitors without full licences from either sanctioning body. This time, he did so in the new Maverick R, which was unveiled last August and has enjoyed great success in American desert racing; although its rally experience is relatively limited due to a lack of homologation, the side-by-side vehicle has already proven to be quick in regional cross-country rallies like the Morocco Desert Challenge and MudEST RallyRaid in Estonia.

Ferioli dominated the Open Cars, setting the fastest time in all five stages as well as the Prologue. The closest margin of victory was 1:25 in Stage #1 with Pablo Macua trailing, but ballooned to over half an hour by the fourth leg. Runner-up Nicolas Gagliardi, the lone non-Can-Am as a Polaris RZR driver, finished nearly an hour and a half back; by comparison, Ferioli won in 2023 by one hour and six minutes.

Leandro López was third overall and second in the T4 class (SSV) to win the Road to Dakar, qualifying him for the 2025 Dakar Rally.

In contrast to the four-wheelers, the Open Bikes battle was slightly closer as Julián Sánchez Dabin and Baltazar Frezze Pissoni were separated by less than eight minutes, albeit the former still had the obvious advantage. Matías Felippa won the first stage but lost his momentum over the next three days before retiring on the final day.

With Felippa out, Dabin won three legs in a row with Pissoni in tow. After the penultimate stage, Dabin was leading by nearly an hour and had the win all but wrapped up. To this end, he opted to ride conservatively and ended up finishing forty-nine minutes behind Pissoni, whittling the margin down (as did a two-minute speeding penalty).

Open overall results

Bikes

FinishNumberRiderTeamTimeMargin
1603Julián Sánchez DabinMax Clean Rally Team25:21:08Leader
2600Baltazar Frezze PissoniMED Racing Team25:29:32+ 8:24
3601Matías AranoaMED Racing Team47:11:19+ 21:50:11
4604Marcelo CarozzaMHC Team Enduro Rally109:30:00+ 84:08:52
DNF602Matías José FelippaFelippa TeamDNFN/A

Cars

FinishNumberDriverCo-DriverTeamClassTimeMargin
1650Jeremías González FerioliGonzalo RinaldiFerioli Racing TeamT420:26:41Leader
2659Nicolas GagliardiEugenio ArrietaFerioli Racing TeamT3.121:49:55+ 1:23:14
3657Leandro LópezDaniel Alberto LópezHV RacingT422:37:03+ 2:10:22
4652Javier Vélez*Gonzalo MartinezGM MotorsportT3.128:32:16+ 8:05:35
5658Alfredo OlmedoDaniel LópezOlmedo Racing TeamT442:33:51+ 22:07:10
6651Pablo MacuaAntonela FazziHV Racing TeamT444:34:33+ 24:07:52
DNF620Ramon Nuñez*Juan Antonio CosiansiNuñez Rally TeamT1.2DNFN/A

Open stage winners

Bikes

StageRiderTime
PrologueBaltazar Frezze Pissoni20:06.7
Stage #1Matias José Felippa5:12:38
Stage #2Julián Sánchez Dabin5:36:09
Stage #3Julián Sánchez Dabin4:53:25
Stage #4Julián Sánchez Dabin5:07:21
Stage #5Baltazar Frezze Pissoni3:11:30

Cars

StageDriverTime
PrologueJeremías González Ferioli17:10.8
Stage #1Jeremías González Ferioli4:26:16
Stage #2Jeremías González Ferioli4:58:24
Stage #3Jeremías González Ferioli3:46:39
Stage #4Jeremías González Ferioli4:05:08
Stage #5Jeremías González Ferioli2:43:04
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