Team Nextel Can-Am Renegades dominated the 4×4 ATV class at Dakar 2013. (Photo courtesy of Team Nextel by Can-Am)

It was nothing but yellow atop the 4×4 ATV podium at Dakar 2013 as BRP’s Can-Am ATV racers swept the class in the annual off-road endurance race covering 8,500 kilometers (5,281 miles) in South America.

Poised with their Can-Am Renegade X Xc vehicles, the triumphant Latin American pilots became figures of national pride as they shared the first, second and third places on the 4×4 podium during the awards ceremony in front of the La Moneda Palace in Santiago, Chile. Team rider Sebastián Palma won the title of the 4×4 class, placing fifth in the overall quad category. Palma took the race by storm, securing first place in the race’s seventh stage, known as one of the most challenging due to torrential rains.

“It is great pride, as a Chilean, to arrive in Santiago celebrating our performance in the Dakar,” says Palma. “Even more so after winning the title in my class and having won a stage among all the quads.”

After 14 days and 5,000 miles of racing, a pair of Xtreme+ Polaris RZR XPs finished at the top of the UTV class at the Dakar Rally.

Willy Alcarz finished 40th overall, winning both the T3 (UTV) at the SOLO Car classes, while Nicolas Duclos and Sébastien Delaunay teamed up to finish 56th overall and second in the T3 class. All told, 449 vehicles started the grueling Dakar Rally and 299 finished, including motorcycles, ATVs, UTVs, cars, and trucks.

This was Alcarz’s second time winning the T3 class solo in his RZR XP, while Duclos and Delaunay earned the “Best Rookies 2013″ title.