PHOTO GALLERY: 2021 DAKAR RALLY

On Jun 29, 2021

Sand and sights of the SSVs By the staff of Dirt Wheels Photos by WESTx1000 and Dakar.com

**Quad, truck, car, action landscape during the 2nd stage of the Dakar 2021 between Bisha and Wadi Al Dawasir, in Saudi Arabia on January 4, 2021 – Photo Florent Gooden / DPPI**

The 43rd annual running of the Dakar Rally took place in the first half of January. It’s the longest off-road race on the planet. Trucks, buggies, bikes and quads all take part in the historic, grueling event. Competitors have to travel nearly 5000 miles during the 12-day event, keeping their bodies and machines alive while braving the elements of the Saudi Arabian desert. For the first time ever, a U.S. citizen competed in the Quad class: Pablo Copetti. Casey Currie made history by becoming the first American to win (American Ricky Brabec also won on a bike) any class at the rally last year in the UTV class. So, having a Miami, Florida, resident in the competition was exciting for all of us back home. There was a great showing of Americans in the UTV class as well, with Seth Quintero grabbing stage wins and Austin Jones finishing the rally in second. Pablo Copetti finished third out of a field of 16 quad riders. Copetti’s weapon of choice was a Yamaha Raptor 700. Enjoy these amazing photos from the land of sand.

**While much of the course is composed of sand and gravel, other parts are literally solid rock.**

**One of the race helicopters prepares to rescue a quad.**

**Parts of the course wound in between stunning rock formations**

**For brief sections the course hugs the sea coast.**

**This shot of one of the quad entrant blowing through sand is amazing. Yamaha Raptor 700s dominate the racing in the quad class.**

**Like all Dakar race vehicles, the Raptor 700s are customized to handle the distances and abuse of the route.**

**Some of the desert route could pass for California or Baja.**

**There is a 4×4 class for quads. It has fewer entrees, and it is dominated by Can-Am machines.**

**Polaris stepped into Dakar for 2021, and had some success, but Can-Am still swept the podium.**

**As you see from the course map, not much of Saudi Arabia is bypassed by the race route.**

428 Guayasamin Sebastian (ecu), Torlaschi Ricardo Adrian (arg), Polaris, Xtremeplus Polaris Factory Team, Motul, SSV Series – T4, action crash accident during the 8th stage of the Dakar 2021 between Sakaka and Neom, in Saudi Arabia on January 11, 2021 – Photo Florent Gooden / DPPI