Seth Quintero to make Crandon World Cup debut

Seth Quintero will drive a slightly different off-road truck from his Toyota Hilux this weekend when he races the #17 Pro 2 truck at Crandon International Off-Road Raceway. It will be his first time competing in the Red Bull Crandon World Cup‘s Pro 2 vs. Pro 4 race.

Short course is a vastly different discipline than the long-distance races that he’s used to in the World Rally-Raid Championship and Best In The Desert. His main trade is even more gruelling as he races for Toyota Gazoo Racing in the W2RC, and is currently eighth in points with one round to go.

Perhaps the closest thing to short course that he’s competed in is the Red Bull Scramble, though that is done in a side-by-side vehicle rather than a truck. He starred in SSVs in rally raid, winning a record twelve stages at the 2022 Dakar Rally in one followed by taking the 2023 World Championship in the Challenger class. Quintero graduated to the premier Ultimate class in a Toyota GR DKR Hilux EVO T1U for the 2024 season.

The start comes during a four-month break in the World Rally-Raid Championship, with the latest round in Argentina taking place in June while the season-ending Rallye du Maroc is not until 5–11 October.

Quintero’s Pro 2 is prepared by fellow Red Bull athlete Andrew Carlson, who races in Pro 4.

While the Red Bull World Cup is a non-points race, he will also enter the Championship Off-Road points-paying round on Saturday and Sunday. The World Cup will take place immediately afterwards. Due to its status as the top short course race today, the World Cup frequently attracts special guests such as Brian Deegan, who confirmed his entry on Tuesday.

Despite short course and rally raid being such contrasting styles of racing, Quintero is not the only driver to have competed in both. Brock Heger was a short course champion who is set to run the Dakar Rally in 2025 while Casey Currie won the 2020 Dakar Rally in the UTV class a year after claiming the Crandon World Cup in Ultra4; 1985 and 1998 World Cup champion Curt LeDuc also has Dakar experience.