If Rob MacCachren is the GOAT of off-road racing, Brock Heger is that for UTVs. Fitting, since Rob Mac’s son is Heger’s teammate at RZR Factory Racing.

After winning the Dakar Rally’s SSV class on debut in 2025, Heger and his other desert teammate Max Eddy Jr. decided to run it back with the renamed LOEB FrayMédia Motorsport. What was formerly Sébastien Loeb Racing upped their partnership with RZR Factory Racing for 2026, hoping it would counter the buildup by rival Can-Am and secure a three-peat at Dakar. Likewise, the Can-Am Maverick R had won all but two stages in 2025, but finished hours behind Heger because of reliability issues.

Both teams revamped and upgraded for 2026. LFM retained Heger, 2024 winner Xavier de Soultrait, and Florent Vayssade, but also brought in rallycross legend Johan Kristoffersson and CPTT star Gonçalo Guerreiro. Polaris also upgraded the RZR Pro R Rally to meet the SSV1 subcategory regulations like the Maverick rather than languish in T4.

At Can-Am Factory Team and South Racing, Hunter Miller, Jeremías González Ferioli, and Francisco López Contardo were joined by João Monteiro and Kyle Chaney. Chaney, the first UTV driver to win King of the Hammers’ Race of Kings, was making his Dakar debut.

Like in 2025, Polaris drew first blood. This time, however, they got more than a few cuts in as LFM drivers won the Prologue and the first four stages. This allowed Heger and Soultrait to quickly pull ahead with over 44 and a half minutes on the Can-Ams. Reigning W2RC SSV champion Alexandre Pinto briefly served as a bulwark in his own RZR before mechanical issues took him out of contention, culminating in his retirement when the suspension failed.

Chaney tried to rally the Mavericks, winning a stage but sitting over 41 minutes behind Heger and Soultrait at the halfway point. Although running at a solid pace, he had fallen into the hole due to a myriad of tire punctures that seemed to continue in the second half.

Even if he couldn’t catch Heger for the lead, a shot at the runner-up opened when Soultrait lost four-wheel drive and had to complete Stage 7 in 2WD. Chaney capitalized to take second place, which he solidifed the next day after Soultrait crashed with Bruno Saby and rolled. While Soultrait was able to continue the race, Chaney and Monteiro finished ahead to push him off the overall podium.

Monteiro was then taken out in Stage 10 by a broken transmission that stranded him in the dunes. Soultrait regained third, but he and Chaney were over an hour behind Heger by this point and neither could make up the gap. Even though he came up short against his fellow American, Chaney was pleased with the result for his maiden Dakar.

“This was my first year at Dakar, and I didn’t really know what to expect,” said Chaney. “Now that all the stages are done and we’re here at the finish line, I know what to expect for next year. I’m happy that we finished on the podium. We put some good stages together and we also had some bad stages, but we stayed consistent. We’re going to go back to the drawing board and come out swinging next year.”

Soultrait rounded out the podium but the rest of Chaney’s Can-Am teammates followed. Jean-François Leclerc, who oversees BRP’s racing operations, commented that “we know there’s more ahead, and we’re committed to pushing harder to reclaim the top step of the podium.”

In 2025, Heger’s Dakar victory was part of a historic win streak that included him being the top UTV at the Baja 1000, King of the Hammers’ Toyo Tires Desert Challenge and Can-Am UTV Hammers Championship, Mint 400 Limited Race, San Felipe 250, and Baja 500. The run ended with a DNF at the Vegas to Reno before rebounding at the Baja 400, though he’ll have to start a new streak with Dakar since teammate Cayden MacCachren claimed the Baja 1000.

Still, Heger secured SCORE’s Pro UTV Open title for the third year in a row ahead of Eddy and MacCachren.

“This race pushes you in every possible way, and to come out on top again is something I’m really proud of,” Heger said. “Max and I work seamlessly together. His navigation was spot on from start to finish, and that trust and communication between us made all the difference over two demanding weeks. The RZR Pro R Rally performed flawlessly every single day. It’s a machine that’s truly unmatched, and it just keeps getting better and better. Having a vehicle you can trust completely at Dakar is everything, and Polaris delivered exactly that.”

Manuel Andújar, a two-time Dakar Quad winner, improved to seventh from last year’s debut of 28th. However, he had qualms about South’s treatment of the Can-Am factory drivers compared to privateers like himself.

He recalled seeing mechanics swapping out the engine on Ferioli’s car during the rest day, which suddenly “magically started winning stages” afterward. He approached the team about reporting the engine change but claimed they denied any knowledge, so he reported the matter to the stewards. Before the FIA could catch on, a used engine sticker was tacked onto the new motor.

“I’m not writing or showing evidence of this for any other reason than the shame and disgust this causes me and for all of us who love and participate in this race honestly, from the heart, and who believe in it and will always defend it,” Andújar wrote. “I’m also showing this because I support the Can-Am brand. I bought my car to race, I enjoy driving their cars, and I believe that what they showed at the Dakar is a farce and a scam for all of the brand’s users. They don’t even know it because they aren’t responsible for the team that’s in the Dakar.

“If the engines break down, they have to improve them for the following year to ensure the reliability of the product they sell and keep trying. That’s the spirit of the race. Hopefully, this message will help ensure this never happens again in the Dakar Rally and that everyone can race and compete in a 100% honest and responsible manner.”

Results

Finish	Overall	Number	Driver	Navigator	Team	Class	Total Time	Margin
1	31	401	Brock Heger*	Max Eddy Jr.	LOEB FrayMédia Motorsport	SSV1	55:11:56	Leader
2	37	416	Kyle Chaney	Jacob Argubright	Can-Am Factory Team	SSV1	56:13:35	+ 1:01:39
3	38	407	Xavier de Soultrait*	Martin Bonnet	LOEB FrayMédia Motorsport	SSV1	56:37:21	+ 1:25:25
4	48	408	João Monteiro	Nuno Morais	Can-Am Factory Team	SSV1	57:39:21	+ 2:@7:25
5	50	406	Jeremías González Ferioli	Gonzalo Rinaldi	Puma Energy Rally Team / Can-Am Factory Team	SSV1	58:02:40	+ 2:50:44
6	52	402	Francisco López Contardo	Álvaro León	Can-Am Factory Team	SSV1	58:10:50	+ 2:58:54
7	55	405	Manuel Andújar	Andres Frini	South Racing	SSV1	58:49:33	+ 3:37:37
8	57	420	Johan Kristoffersson*	Ola Fløene	LOEB FrayMédia Motorsport	T4	59:12:20	+ 4:00:24
9	74	428	Maciej Oleksowicz	Marcin Sienkiewicz	South Racing	SSV1	63:56:50	+ 8:44:54
10	78	439	Gauthier Honvault*	Delphine Delfino	Solurent	SSV1	64:27:48	+ 9:15:52
11	81	403	Sebastián Guayasamín	Pol Ros	Old Friends Rally Team	T4	65:06:43	+ 9:54:47
12	84	432	Richard Aczel	Wouter Rosegaar	South Racing	SSV1	65:43:49	+ 10:31:53
13	91	429	Denis Berezovskiy*	Artur Ardavichus	South Racing	SSV1	67:46:04	+ 12:34:08
14	92	425	Joan Piferrer	Xavier Blanco	Buggy Masters Team	SSV1	68:25:37	+ 13:13:41
15	100	442	Hamad Al-Harbi*	Omat Al-Lahim	Shegawi Racing	SSV1	71:25:49	+ 16:13:53
16	101	440	Rui Silva*	Francisco Albuquerque	TH-Trucks Team	T4	71:30:40	+ 16:18:44
17	104	441	Lawrence Janesky*	Bruno Jacomy	South Racing	SSV1	72:59:06	+ 17:47:10
18	105	419	Olivier Pernaut*	Benjamin Riviere	Orhes Racing	SSV1	73:03:59	+ 17:52:03
19	107	431	José María Camí*	Cristian Camí	Buggy Masters Team	SSV1	75:34:05	+ 20:22:09
20	113	421	Philippe Boutron*	Mayeul Barbet	BTR	SSV1	82:07:29	+ 26:55:33
21	117	427	Mindaugas Sidabras	Ernestas Česokas	Izoton Sport	SSV1	90:08:49	+ 34:56:53
22	124	426	Heathcliff Zingraf*	Eric Bersey	Team Casteu Trophy	T4	105:33:53	+ 50:21:57
23	126	417	Hélder Rodrigues	Gonçalo Reis	Santag Racing	T4	110:39:08	+ 55:27:12
24	128	412	Florent Vayssade*	Nicolas Rey	LOEB FrayMédia Motorsport	T4	120:23:14	+ 65:11:18
25	129	423	Domingo Román*	Óscar Bravo	TH-Trucks Team	T4	123:23:09	+ 68:11:13
26	134	433	Hassan Jameel*	Maciej Giemza	South Racing	SSV1	151:34:56	+ 96:23:00
27	137	410	Hunter Miller	Jeremy Gray	Can-Am Factory Team	SSV1	161:50:43	+ 106:38:47
28	139	422	Carlos Santaolalla*	Aran Sol I Juanola	Pedregà Team	T4	177:02:58	+ 121:51:02
29	143	418	Benoît Lepietre*	Peter Serra	BTR	SSV1	192:35:17	+ 137:23:21
30	149	437	Robert Knight*	Christopher Rhyce Western	R-X Sport	SSV1	216:02:52	+ 160:50:56
DNF	DNF	400	Alexandre Pinto	Bernardo Oliveira	Old Friends Rally Team	T4	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	404	Gonçalo Guerreiro*	Maykel Justo	LOEB FrayMédia Motorsport	SSV1	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	414	Saleh Al-Saif*	Albert Veliamovic	Dark Horse Team	T4	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	415	Gerard Farrés*	Toni Vingut	Pedregà Team	T4	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	424	João Dias	Rui Pita	Santag Racing	T4	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	430	Adrien Choblet*	Laurent Magat	Team Casteu Trophy	T4	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	434	Abdullah Al-Shegawi*	Raed Al-Assaf	Saudi Next Gen / BE Racing	T4	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	435	Hamza Bakhashab	Fahad Al-Omar	Saudi Next Gen / BE Racing	T4	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	436	David Casteu*	François Bonnet	Team Casteu Trophy	T4	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	438	Bruno Martins*	Eurico Adão	Santag Racing	T4	DNF	N/A
DNF	DNF	443	Abdullah Al-Fahad*	Leander Pienaar	Dark Horse Team	T4	DNF	N/A

Stage winners

Stage	Overall	Driver	Total Time
Prologue	61	Brock Heger*	12:47.0
Stage 1	45	Xavier de Soultrait*	3:38:45
Stage 2	47	Gonçalo Guerreiro*	4:42:45
Stage 3	33	Brock Heger*	4:38:09
Stage 4	20	Brock Heger*	5:21:48
Stage 5	27	Kyle Chaney*	4:17:22
Stage 6	25	Xavier de Soultrait*	3:59:53
Stage 7	57	Jeremías González Ferioli	4:32:58
Stage 8	47	Brock Heger*	5:04:15
Stage 9	32	Francisco López Contardo	4:23:43
Stage 10	20	Brock Heger*	5:18:14
Stage 11	68	Brock Heger*	3:30:11
Stage 12	32	Jeremías González Ferioli	3:51:36
Stage 13	44	João Monteiro	55:09

Featured image credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI / ASO