While many in the U.S will still be recovering from the ball drop on New Year’s Eve, the rally world will be waiting for the green flag to drop on the 46th Edition of the Dakar Rally on January 5, 2024. Planning to make a global splash, Polaris Off Road (Booth #6115 at AIMExpo) announced it has joined forces with Sebastien Loeb Racing (SLR). SLR drivers Xavier de Soultrait and Florent Vayssade will compete in the SSV T4 category in a pair of RZR Pro R Factory race machines.
“Our success with the Polaris Factory Racing team during its first season in SCORE racing, capped off with a coveted Baja 1000 victory, was unprecedented… but Dakar is an entirely different beast,” said Alex Scheuerell, Polaris Factory Racing Technical Director. “Our incredible design and engineering teams have continued to refine and develop the RZR Pro R Factory platform specifically for international rally racing and the unique demands it places on both drivers and vehicles. We are excited to take on this incredible challenge with the combined power of Polaris engineering and our incredible partners at SLR.”
In addition to SLR fielding two RZR Pro R Factory machines, the Xtremplus team of Shinsuke Umeda (2023 T4 vice-champions in the W2RC World Rally-Raid Championship), Michele Cinotto and Jorge Wagernfuhr will be equipped with race-modified RZR Pro Rs, along with the TH-Trucks Team of Enrico Gaspari, Daniel González Reina and Domingo Román Pardos who will also navigate the two-week event in RZR Pro Rs.
The Polaris-backed teams tackle the world’s toughest race beginning January 5, 2024, in AlUla and finishing January 19, 2024, in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.