Seth Quintero is back at the Vegas to Reno, and with some old company. He’s teamed up with RZR Factory Racing for the race, splitting the orange #T931 Polaris RZR with Ethan Groom.

Quintero makes his return to Polaris, with whom he cut his teeth in American desert racing as a teenager in the 2010s. A laundry list of UTV class wins and championships came in the RZR, including the 2019 Mint 400, the 2019 and 2020 Vegas to Reno, and the 2019 and 2020 Best In The Desert Pro Production titles.

He continued to be a Polaris-affiliated driver after shifting his focus to rally raid in 2021 because Overdrive Racing, who built the OT3 he made his Dakar debut in, exclusively focuses on rallies. His last V2R with Polaris was in 2022, where he finished seventh in UTV Turbo Pro.

The partnership went dormant after Red Bull joined forces with South Racing Can-Am for the 2023 season. Besides racing the Maverick XRS in the World Rally-Raid Championship, where he won the T3 title, Quintero switched to one for desert races back home. At the 2023 Vegas to Reno, he beat fellow American rally raider Mitch Guthrie—who drove a RZR—to be the fastest UTV outright and score South Racing’s first victory in the United States.

Quintero moved up to Ultimate with Toyota Gazoo Racing for the 2024 W2RC onward, which opened the possibility of a Polaris reunion. He did not race the V2R that year.

Now, he’s back and partnering up with Polaris’ factory program. RZR Factory Racing is in the midst of a renaissance in the off-road world, having won the last two SCORE Pro UTV Open titles while his new teammate Brock Heger is riding a seven-race win streak. Heger had also been at Dakar alongside Quintero in January, where he won the SSV class.

“Was never a goodbye it was a see you soon,” wrote Quintero on Wednesday. “[T]hanks for having me boys let’s have some fun”.

Groom, who will share driving duties with Quintero, won the 2023 SCORE class title as Heger’s co-driver. The orange RZR serves as the team’s multi-driver “tryout” car; Groom piloted it at the Mint 400 while Dylan Schmoke did so at the Toyo Tires Desert Challenge and Justin Morgan in both SCORE races to date.

As their other full-timers, Max Eddy Jr. and Cayden MacCachren will also race the V2R for RZR Factory Racing.

The V2R will take place on Friday. It comes during the W2RC’s four-month summer break, which gave Quintero plenty of time for other endeavors like showing up to Red Bull Erzbergrodeo. He is currently fourth in points with a ninth at the Dakar Rally, third at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, and seventh at the South African Safari Rally.

Featured image credit: Joerg Mitter / Red Bull Content Pool