The Can-Am Maverick R is a powerful UTV that has won in basically everything it’s entered. Now, it can add the World Rally-Raid Championship to the growing list of victories. Jeremías González Ferioli won all five stages as well as the Prologue to top the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge’s SSV class by nearly an hour and a half.

The Maverick R had won the Desafío Ruta 40’s Open Cars class in 2024 with González and was the fastest Experimental UTV at the Rallye du Maroc later that year, but neither of those were for FIA-homologated cars. It debuted as an approved SSV at the Dakar Rally, where Can-Am drivers won all but two stages yet were out of contention for the overall due to early mechanical issues. González won two stages.

While he tested some new engine maps and gearbox settings, González’s car remained the same from Dakar for Abu Dhabi.

Stage #1 was a moment of brilliance for the line as Maverick Rs swept the podium with González ahead of defending SSV winner Mansour Al-Helei and Khalid Al Qassimi. However, Al-Helei and Al Qassimi’s luck ran out after that.

Al-Helei had suspension problems throughout the next day before a defective part from the supplier caused his turbo to go haywire in Stage #3 and take him out. Al-Helei then lost the Stage #4 win to González because of a false start that resulted in a one-minute penalty.

Al Qassimi was knocked out by mechanical problems on the second leg. While he salvaged a fifth in Stage #4, he retired for good the last day.

While the Emirati Maverick Rs had trouble, the Argentine González was on cruise control the rest of the way. Stage #4 with Al-Helei’s penalty ended up being the closest margin of victory by 21 seconds, with the next smallest gap being when he beat Alexandre Pinto by 1:04 in Stage #3.

“From day one, the car was flying,” González told Carburando. “We followed our strategy, we tried to stay cool without making mistakes but also not slacking off too much. I’m very happy. Sebas (Sebastian Cesana) and I got along well from the first moment. It was a new experience for both of us, but very happy.”

Pinto, like everyone else affiliated with Can-Am in the race, drove a Can-Am Maverick XRS. Although he finished sixth overall, he was third among points-eligible drivers and thus maintains his lead atop the W2RC SSV standings. Race runner-up Enrico Gaspari earned max points as the highest placing driver signed up for the championship.

Claude Fournier narrowly missed the W2RC podium in one of the three Polaris RZRs entered, just 55 seconds back of Pinto. Although Polaris had won the Dakar with Brock Heger, the factory team was not entered as its focus was on King of the Hammers and the Mint 400 back in America.

Extreme H test driver Hedda Hosås was tenth in her W2RC debut. Her race was ruined by an alternator issue that prevented her from starting Stage #4, but she salvaged a fourth in class on the last day.

Results

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Time	Margin
1	11	415	Jeremías González Ferioli*	Sebastian Cesana	Can-Am Factory Team	15:58:21	Leader
2	19	402	Enrico Gaspari	Antoine Lecourbe	TH-Trucks Team	17:25:05	+ 1:26:44
3	21	413	José Nogueira*	Arcelio Couto	Old Friends Rally Team	19:23:00	+ 3:24:39
4	22	407	Yahya Al-Helei*	Mohammed Hamri	R-X Sport	19:32:27	+ 3:34:06
5	23	404	Michele Cinotto	Maurizio Dominella	Xtremeplus	19:54:57	+ 3:56:36
6	24	401	Alexandre Pinto	Bernardo Oliveira	Old Friends Rally Team	20:39:11	+ 4:40:50
7	25	403	Claude Fournier	Patrick Jimbert	MMP Compétition	20:40:06	+ 4:41:45
8	26	411	Atif Al-Zarouni*	Mohammed Innab	Quaddy Racing Middle East Team	20:42:35	+ 4:44:14
9	34	405	Mansour Al-Helei	Khalid Al-Kendi	Liwa Team UAE	37:37:13	+ 21:38:52
10	35	410	Hedda Hosås*	Pol Tibau	R-X Sport	39:02:57	+ 23:04:36
11	36	414	Marian Andreev*	Matei Negulescu	Xtremeplus	39:21:22	+ 23:23:01
DNF	DNF	406	Khalid Al Qassimi*	Ola Fløene	Liwa Team UAE	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	408	Aleksander Szustkowski*	Jarosław Kazberuk	Xtremeplus	DNF	N/A

Stage winners

Stage	Winner	Time
Prologue	Jeremías González Ferioli	7:16.7
Stage #1	Jeremías González Ferioli	3:12:38
Stage #2	Jeremías González Ferioli	3:30:03
Stage #3	Jeremías González Ferioli	3:34:14
Stage #4	Jeremías González Ferioli	3:21:47
Stage #5	Jeremías González Ferioli	2:19:39

W2RC

Drivers

Rank	Driver	Points	Margin
1	Alexandre Pinto	131	Leader
2	Enrico Gaspari	120	– 11
3	Michele Cinotto	66	– 65
T-4	Claude Fournier	55	– 76
T-4	Sara Price	55	– 76
6	Roger Grouwels	45	– 86
7	Manuel Andújar	42	– 89
8	Mansour Al-Helei	29	– 102
9	Fernando Álvarez	12	– 119
T-10	Diego Martinez	2	– 129
T-10	Carlos Vento	2	– 129

Navigators

Rank	Navigator	Points	Margin
1	Bernardo Oliveira	131	Leader
2	Fausto Mota	70	– 61
3	Sean Berriman	55	– 76
4	Antoine Lecourbe	50	– 81
5	Rudolf Meijer	45	– 86
6	Bernardo Graue	42	– 89
7	Maurizio Dominella	39	– 92
8	Khalid Al-Kendi	29	– 102
9	Grégory Revest-Arnoux	28	103
T-10	Alberto Bertoldi	27	104
T-10	Patrick Jimbert	27	104
12	Xavier Panseri	12	119
T-13	Jorge Brandão	2	129
T-13	Sergio Lafuente	2	129

Featured image credit: Helena Clancy / Edophoto