– Chile’s Francesco Lopez and Sweden’s Sebastian Eriksson start strongly in T3
– Polish Goczal brothers fastest in T4 Qualifying stage; Luppi de Oliveira in third
– Strong start for quartet of Can-Am Factory South Racing machines
– South Racing represented by 160 personnel from six continents and 28 countries
– Can-Am is the largest manufacturer present at the 2022 Dakar Rally
The South Racing Can-Am Team will be aiming to continue the success it achieved in 2021 when the competitive calendar fires into life with this month’s Dakar Rally, the opening round of a brand new FIA World Rally-Raid Championship.
Competitive action in the 13-day rally began today (Saturday) with a short Qualifying Stage of 19.51km that was held in the desert, north of Jeddah, en route to the first overnight halt and official start in Hail.
South Racing-built Can-Ams have a 100% finishing record on the world’s toughest off-road rally that is being held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for a third year. The team is challenging for honours in both the FIA T3 and T4 categories, having finished first last time out in the Side-by-Side and Lightweight category and having won the Side-by-Side category in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
The team has built 21 vehicles for this year’s Dakar that runs through the length and breadth of Saudi Arabia and finishes in Jeddah on January 14th. One-hundred and sixty team personnel are present in the Kingdom. Can-Am is the largest manufacturer represented on the entire event and South Racing is the largest team in terms of personnel in situ.
In total, the Dakar has attracted 409 racing vehicles, including 144 motorcycles, 20 quads, 89 T1 and T2 cars, 48 in T3, 47 in T4 and 56 trucks in T5.
Chilean driver Francesco Lopez started strongly in the FIA T3 section in his EKS-South Racing Can-Am and was third fastest through the opening Qualifying Stage, held over dirt and sandy tracks and small dunes. Swedish team-mate Sebastian Eriksson carded the fifth quickest time and local driver Saleh Al-Saif was eighth in a South Racing-built machine.
Spain’s Fernando Alvarez came home in 11th and the South Racing Middle East trio of Dania Akeel, Thomas Bell and Mashael Al-Obaidan reached the finish in 22nd, 23rd and 25th.
Both Akeel and Al-Obaidan are Saudi Arabian female drivers taking part in the Dakar after a successful campaign in Baja events in 2021. Akeel was duly crowned as the FIA T3 World Champion after her results in the 2021 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas.
The Polish brothers, Marek and Michal Goczal, laid down the gauntlet in the FIA T4 section in their Cobant-Energylandia Rally Team Can-Ams built and run by South Racing. They held first and second in the category after the Qualifying stage with Rodrigo Luppi de Oliveira rounding out the top three in his South Racing Can-Am.
The team has strength in depth across the T4 category this year and American racer Austin Jones – the T4 winner of the 2021 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies – holds fourth place from Can-Am Factory South Racing team-mate Aron Domzala of Poland.
Australia’s Molly Taylor began strongly to stop the clocks in sixth place in the third of the Can-Am Factory cars, Argentina’s David Zille was classified in seventh, Dutchman Gert-Jan van der Valk was ninth and Spain’s Gerard Farres was 11th in the fourth of the factory Can-Ams. Lithuania’s Rokas Baciuska and Ukraine’s Ievgen Kovalevych held 12th and 16th overall. Further down the running order, Geoff Minnitt was 28th and Lucas Del Rio was 44th.
South Racing Can-Am Team’s Scott Abraham said: « This has been a great start to the Dakar Rally. Obviously it’s very busy this year with 160 team members at the event with us from six continents and 28 countries. Today’s Qualifying stage showed that it is definitely going to be a dogfight in both the T3 and T4 categories. Chaleco (Lopez) had a really strong stage, as did Sebastian, and they are well positioned for the first of the longer stages on Sunday in the Hail region.
« In the T4 category, the competition is fast and furious and continues to be the same as previous years. There are a lot of top flight contenders and it was a great first stage for Marek and his brother Michal. Rodrigo showed that he is definitely one to watch and the four Can-Am factory cars are in great positions. Molly is also in the fight. There are interesting times ahead. »
Support for the South Racing Can-Am Team comes from Method Wheels, Tensor Tires, Motul, Bell, Jjuan Brake Systems, Lazer and OMP.