#Dakar

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.

Official Team Polaris/Xtreme Plus participated for the first time ever at the Dakar 2012, the world’s toughest off-road race. After having developed a special new FIA class (T3) for the RZR, the Polaris/Xtreme Plus Team had run some tests in several events, and won the Dakar Series, in Russia, in July 2011.

But Dakar is definitely another story, with more than 9000 kilometers (5592 miles) of racing, three countries crossed in South America, 469 participants, and various terrain and extreme weather conditions.

Team Polaris/Xtreme Plus enrolled a very experienced driver Willy Alcaraz No. 374, who had participated in Dakar in several classes as a driver and co-driver, and set up one goal for the first event, reach Lima in Peru in the Polaris Ranger RZR XP 900!

BRP’s Can-Am ATV and side-by-side teams reached their respective class podiums in the 34th edition of the most famous rally in the world, the Dakar Rally.

This year’s edition, noted by some as “the most challenging Dakar thus far,” kicked off in Mar del Plata-Argentina, leading 30 hopeful ATV racers through approximately 9,000 kilometers (5,592 miles) of unparalleled terrains across Argentina, Chile, and finally, Peru. Only 11 teams crossed the coveted finish line, among them BRP racers Daniel Mazzucco, Barry Cruces and Petar Cenkov (Team Rally Raid / Can-Am), who finished first, second and third in the 4×4 Quad category.

“Out of my three Dakar participations, this was without a doubt the toughest,” Argentinean pilot Mazzucco (Team AGO-MD / Can-Am) declared upon receiving his first-place trophy. “The ATV performed extremely well … the Renegades filled the podium on the 4×4, which was a great result! I also must commend my technical support team for providing excellent support and assistance.”