VALCOURT, Quebec — Can-Am, iconic brand of BRP Inc., announced it is returning to the Dakar Rally for 2025 with an all-new vehicle and a heavy-hitting driver lineup to compete in one of the toughest races in the world.
The Can-Am Maverick R will make its highly-anticipated Rally Raid debut in the T4 Side-by-Side Vehicle class. With support from the South Racing team, Can-Am will field four factory race drivers.
Francisco “Chaleco” Lopez, 49, Chile, three-time Dakar UTV Champion, 2022 World Rally Raid T3 Champion Sara Price, 32, USA, 2023 Dakar Rally stage winner Hunter Miller, 38, USA, 2020 King of the Hammers UTV Champion Jeremias Gonzalez Ferioli, 28, Argentina, 3 Dakar Rally stage wins
“The Dakar Rally is always the focal point of our racing calendar,” said Jean-Francois Leclerc, BRP Race Manager. “This year, we’re taking our Dakar efforts a step further with the introduction of the Maverick R and an excellent team of drivers. Our team of engineers and mechanics have been working diligently on the car to optimize performance and meet the regulatory requirements from the FIA, the International Automobile Federation. With the help of our partners at South Racing and our talented team of drivers, we’re looking forward to another strong result at Dakar.”
The 2025 Dakar Rally will mark the first FIA-sanctioned race for the Can-Am Maverick R as a homologated vehicle.
Introduced for the 2024 model year, the revolutionary Maverick R quickly found success at iconic desert races like Vegas to Reno, the Silver State 300 and the Baja 1000. South Racing has also tested the Maverick R in select Rally Raid races in the “Experimental” category, where the new platform showed incredible potential.
Since 2018, Can-Am and South Racing have earned six consecutive Dakar Rally wins. The 2025 edition of the rally marks a new chapter, as all of the previous wins came with the proven Can-Am Maverick X3 platform.
The advancements of the Maverick R platform – from the innovative tall-knuckle suspension design, to the high-performance seven-speed dual-clutch-transmission and turbo-charged three-cylinder Rotax engine – are well-suited to the challenging terrain of Saudi Arabia.
The Can-Am factory drivers will start the 12-day, 8000-kilometer race on Jan. 3 in Bisha, Saudi Arabia, and the winner will be crowned on Jan. 17 in Shubaytah,
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