When the Amaury Sport Organisation anounced in the spring that Quads would no longer be at the Dakar Rally in 2025, 2024 class winner Manuel Andújar figured he would be watching from home. As it turns out, he’ll be in Saudi Arabia come January, albeit behind the wheel instead of handlebars.
Andújar plans to race the 2025 Dakar Rally in the SSV category, hopefully driving the Can-Am Maverick R once homologated by the FIA. In the meantime, he is set to make his SSV driving début in September at the Rally Raid San Rafael before entering the Rallye du Maroc in October. He confirmed his plans to Campeones Media on Wednesday.
He made the switch to SSVs in June when he won the Rally Raid San Juan as the co-driver for Juan Cruz Yacopini. It came just weeks after he clinched the World Rally-Raid Championship for Quads, and five months after earning his second Dakar victory in the category.
The ASO dropped Quads in April, after which Andújar contemplated taking a break from rallies before ultimately making the switch to a side-by-side. Many Quad riders have taken a similar avenue including Pablo Copetti, Rodolfo Guillioli, Juraj Varga, and ex-Dakar winners Josef Macháček, Ignacio Casale, and Sergei Kariakin; 2023 W2RC Quad champion Laisvydas Kancius has also moved to the FIA side, albeit in the top Ultimate class.
His Maverick R will feature his 7240 Team‘s branding, but is prepared by Jeremías González Ferioli‘s Ferioli Racing Team. Driving a Maverick R, Ferioli had won the Desafío Ruta 40 (where Andújar clinched the World Championship) in the Open Cars class.
Eventually, however, Andújar hopes to sign with South Racing Can-Am for the 2025 Dakar and W2RC. João Ferreira, who races for South in the W2RC, told The Checkered Flag last October that the team plans to switch to the Maverick R once approved by the FIA while three-time Dakar winner Francisco López Contardo also plans to race it in 2025. Until then, the vehicle has been widely successful in North American desert racing and has proven quick in various regional rallies.
The fourth and penultimate round of the 2024 Campeonato Argentino de Rally Raid, the San Rafael Rally Raid is scheduled for 6–8 September. The Rallye du Maroc on 5–11 October ends the 2024 World Rally-Raid Championship while the Dakar on 3–17 January begins the 2025 calendar.