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.