when Dakar Rally He moved to South America in 2009 and sowed a seed in Argentina. Many of them, who had never participated in rally raids, were turned upside down by the enthusiasm generated and the popular phenomenon with thousands of people on the side of the road watching the vehicles, as in the best times of tourist road racing. Today, despite running around in Saudi Arabia, economic complications and in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Argentine Legion has a presence 27 participants.

That enthusiasm that produced Marcus Patronelli When he was the first Argentine to win a stage in history, by quad bike in 2009, he became a revolution with his victorious baptism in a public race the following year (repeated in 2013 and 2016). The boom was so great that the Automóvil Club Argentino (ACA) created the Argentine Cross Country Rally Championship, where the champion of each category was able to get paid to sign up for the upcoming Dakar Rally. That division exists today in the name of the Argentine Rally Ride Championship and although the legendary competition has departed for Asia, the passion remains for the doors that have been opened.

Later Alejandro Patronelli (expired in 2011 and 2012) He also won and the Las Flores brothers scored five victories in the Dakar Rally. This made many representatives from Albiceleste want to compete in the toughest race in the world and over the years the presence of the Argentines grew, as well as in the quads, more victories came hand in hand Nicholas Cavigliaso (2019), in the version that ran entirely in Peru, and Manuel Andujar (2021), already in Saudi Arabia.

Although the greatest victory was the victory Kevin Benavides In motorcycles in 2021, the most emblematic class because the maker of the Dakar Rally, remembered Thierry Sabine, who lost a desert race in late 1977, He was able to survive, but that experience affected him that way and a year later he made the toughest race in the world a reality, the Paris Dakar.

It’s been 43 years since the first edition and the legendary competition that marked the Argentines will take place in Saudi Arabia 29 actors. The payroll is divided into 6 motorcycles, 4 quad bikes, 8 in cars, 2 in trucks, 8 in a UTV, and 1 in a light prototype.

But envoys from other countries in the region were also injured in the decade 2009-2019 and for this reason there will be more than 11 thousand km. 63 South Americans Compete in the Middle East.

Presence in South America by category.

Motorcycles: Kevin Benavides (Argentina), Luciano Benavides (Argentina), Matias Notti (Argentina), Gamaliel Llanos (Argentina), Joaquín Diplgo Taruselli (Argentina), Diego Norras (Argentina), Daniel Nosiglia Geiger (Poland), Pablo Quintanilla (CHI), Jose Ignacio Cornego Florimo (CHI), Patricio Cabrera (CHI), Cesar Zumaran (CHI), Giordano Pacheco (Colorado), Juan Carlos Boga Davila (ECU) and Alex Mauricio Cueva Ojeda (ECU). In this division, the Benavides brothers are candidates, as are the Chileans Quintanilla and Cornejo.

Quad bikes: Manuel Andujar (Argentina), Pablo Copete (Argentina), Francisco Moreno (Argentina), Carlos Alejandro Verza (Argentina), Marcelo Medeiros (Brazil), Giovanni Enrico (CHI), Nicolas Robledo Serna (CHI) and Italo Piedmonte (CHI). Andújar has a chance to re-proof his title and start as a favorite, especially after winning the World Cross Country Rally Championship. One of the lobos arrives very well.

the cars: Orlando Terranova (Argentina), Lucio Alvarez (Argentina), Sebastian Halpern and Bernardo Grau (Argentina), Juan Cruz and Alejandro Jacobini (Argentina), Marcelo Tiglia Gastaldi and Caddo Sax (Brazil), Andrea Lafarga (Brazil), Eugenio (Andrés ARG) and Nelson Sanabria (PAR) and Pedro Velosa (PER). Eduardo Blanco (Argentina), navigator of the Spanish ship Jesus Calleja joined. In this category, Orly Terranova will try to get the long-awaited podium and race in a good team like Bahrain Raid Extreme.

UTV o “Side by Side”: Bruno Jacomi (Argentina), Ezequiel Fernandez Sasso (Argentina), Pablo Macoa (Argentina), Mauro Esteban Lipez (Argentina), David Zell (Argentina), Sebastian Cesana (Argentina), Gustavo Guglielmen (Brazil), Rodrigo Lope de Oliveira (Brazil) Michael Gusto (Brazil), Lucas del Rio (Che) and Americo Aliaga (Che).

trucks: Juan Manuel “Pato” Silva (Argentina), Carlos Mel Banfi (Argentina), Ignacio Casale (Che) and Alvaro Leon (Che).

Light Prototype: Jorge Wagenfor (Brazil), Felipe Bianchini de Oliveira (Brazil), Francisco López Contardo, Juan Pablo Latraque Vinagre (China), Luis Ijioren (China), Matías Vicuña (CHI), Javier Velez (Colorado), Matteo Moreno Christiansen (Colorado), Sebastián Guayasamin (ECU) Ricardo Adrián Torlaschi (ARG) and Sergio Lafuente (URU).

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