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 |