Manuel Andujar wins Rally Raid San Juan in SSV debut

Manuel Andújar knows how to win on a quad, and now he knows how to win in a side-by-side vehicle.

The newly crowned World Rally-Raid Champion in the Quad category made the switch to co-driving a SSV this weekend when he entered the Campeonato Argentino de Rally Raid‘s (CaNav Rally Raid) Rally Raid San Juan. Serving as the navigator of a Can-Am Maverick driven by Juan Cruz Yacopini, their #211 narrowly edged out Jeremías Gonzalez Ferioli for the UTV overall win.

Ferioli had won the W2RC’s Desafío Ruta 40 in the Open Cars class earlier in June, where Andújar clinched both the race win and the title for Quads. The former’s Maverick R barely beat Yacopini and Andújar by just four seconds in Stage #1 before they returned the favour by placing ahead of him by five minutes (second behind Leandro López, who won the Road to Dakar at the DR 40). Yacopini and Ferioli traded blows before the #211 pulling away to win with a minute and five seconds between them.

Andújar claimed the Dakar Rally for Quads in January, which ultimate became the category’s final start there as the Amaury Sport Organisation has dropped them for 2025. Feeling that running the rest of the W2RC season was pointless without Dakar to prepare for, he focused on securing the championship at the DR 40 before ending his Quad career entirely and switching to SSVs. Many of his classmates plan to jump to FIA categories as well including 2023 World Champion Laisvydas Kancius and runner-up Rodolfo Guillioli, Pablo Copetti, and Juraj Varga.

Yacopini also races in the W2RC, albeit a Toyota Hilux in the premier Ultimate category.

“It was my first experience in a UTV,” wrote Andújar on Sunday. “I was able to contribute to the team with my humble navigation but [Juan] went out and moved his hands in an incredible way to narrowly win by a minute. I want to thank the Yacopini family for giving me this opportunity and the boys Maxi, Gaby, and Gonza who worked spectacularly with the team.”

Julián Sánchez Dabin, another DR 40 class winner in Open Bikes, won the motorcycle overall ahead of Joaquín Debeljuh.

Rally Raid San Juan was the third round of the 2024 CaNav season.

Overall results

Moto

Finish	Number	Rider	Team	Class	Time	Margin
1	29	Julián Sánchez Dabin	Max Clean Rally Team	M1	8:30:17	Leader
2	4	Joaquín Debeljuh	JDT Racing Team	M1	8:37:12	+ 6:55
3	23	Juan Cruz Carrizo	JC Electricidad s.a.	M2	9:18:38	+ 48:21
4	22	Maximiliano Moretti	AER Racing Team	M2	11:22:59	+ 2:52:42
5	28	Gustavo Milutín	Max Clean Rally Team	M1	12:01:09	+ 3:30:53

Quad

Finish	Number	Rider	Team	Class	Time	Margin
1	68	Andres Frini	Frini Quads	Q1	8:53:39	Leader
2	60	José Faule	Santiago Rally Raid Team	Q1	9:36:50	+ 43:11
3	96	Luis Verri	Agronomy Rally Raid	Q3	10:12;09	+ 1:18:30
4	93	Silvio Toselli	TnT Racing Team	Q3	11:27:42	+ 2:34:03
5	52	Matias Canalis	MEC Team	Q1	12:03:32	+ 3:09:53

Auto

Finish	Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Team	Class	Time	Margin
1	151	Francisco Diaz Peralta	Adriano Di Battista	PR Racing Team	T2.1	8:04:00	Leader
2	153	Cristian Bertona	Emiliano Bertona	Bertona Rally Team	T2.1	8:32:52	+ 28:52
3	163	Lino Sisterna	Ramiro Corvalan	Sisterna Rally	T1.2	8:38:31	+ 34:31
4	152	Lisandro Villanova	Jorge Deregibus	Team Aviguri	T2.1	9:06:45	+ 1:02:45
5	154	José Antonio Martinez	Juan Antonio Pereira	Coyote Team	T2.1	10:16:40	+ 2:122:40
6	156	Oscar Cruz	Cristian Gomez	Team Alimezclas	T2.1	11:05:04	+ 3:01:04
7	111	Alberto Tornatore	Analia Alvarez	Tornatore Rally Team	T1.2	17:19:02	+ 9:15:02
8	155	Maximiliano Iglesias	Fabricio Legnini	Mannol Racing Team	T2.1	17:51:09	+ 9:47:09
9	112	Daniel Estigarribia		Pilo Rally Pinamar	T1.2	19:00:27	+ 10:56:27

UTV

Finish	Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Team	Class	Time	Margin
1	211	Juan Cruz Yacopini	Manuel Andújar	Yacopini Team	T3.1	6:29:32	Leader
2	202	Jeremías Gonzalez Ferioli	Gonzalo Rinaldi	Ferioli Racing Team	T3.1	6:30:36	+ 1:05
3	271	Leandro López	Daniel Alberto López	HV Racing	T3.2	6:36:36	+ 7:05
4	251	Omar Gandara	Joaquin Wior	Gandara Rally Team	T3.2	7:44:30	+ 1:14:59
5	257	Pablo Macua	Antonela Fazzi	Macua Sport Team	T3.2	7:50:47	+ 121:15
6	268	Ricardo Graglia	Camila Graglia	Cinzia Team	T3.2	8:23:11	+ 1:53:39
7	281	Manuel Alvarez Antiga	Pablo Bustamante	Charrúa – Sisterna Rally Raid Team	T3.3	8:30:18	+ 2:00:46
8	226	Augusto D’agostini	Leonardo Ulla	GM Motorsport	T3.1	8:32:17	+ 2:02:45
9	283	Fernando Castelblanco	Andres Felipe Sanchez	GM Motorsport	T3.3	9:46:01	+ 3:16:29
10	253	Alfredo Olmedo	Daniel López	Olmedo Racing Team	T3.2	10:52:24	+ 4:21:52
11	273	Paulo Graglia	Alejandro Paug	Cinzia Team	T3.2	11:16:25	+ 4:46:53
12	286	Ricardo Silicani	Sebastián Elices	LCR Team	T3.3	12:23:19	+ 5:53:48
DNF	210	Nicolas Zingoni	Lisandro Sisterna	MEC Team	T3.1	DNF	N/A

Navigation

Finish	Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Team	Class	Time	Margin
1	402	Mariano Pauls	Jeronimo Pauls	Pauls Rally Team	N2	8:52:06	Leader
DNF	404	Eugenio Rosco Favre	Juan Bartolini	Roscoteem	N2	DNF	N/A

Enduro

Finish	Number	Rider	Team	Time	Margin
1	603	Bustos Fernando	Tuercas Lubricentro	10:12:07	Leader