Victory for Can-Am at the Afriquia Merzouga Rally
A Can-Am derived vehicle won the Afriquia Merzouga Rally, a tough, five-day African desert endurance race.
Photo by: Afriquia Merzouga Rally
Bruno Varela and Gustavo Gugelmin of the South Racing/Can-Am team recently captured victory at the Afriquia Merzouga Rally in a Can-Am Maverick X3 X rs Turbo R side-by-side vehicle. The team won four of the five race stages, and also the prologue, placing two teams on the overall class podium in Morocco, Africa.
Can-Am is a brand of BRP, a Canadian enterprise and a leader in the world of powersports vehicles and propulsion systems with headquarters located in Valcourt, Québec.
Olivier Camus, Can-Am global marketing director, declared: “The ingenious Can-Am Maverick X3 side-by-side vehicle is the performance leader in the industry and continues to outshine the competition in the world’s most demanding desert conditions. Racers from around the globe are having great success with the Can-Am Maverick X3 platform, proving its dominant role in the market for sport-driving enthusiasts who seek out challenges for both man and machine.”
The ninth Afriquia Merzouga Rally, a Dakar series event, featured 32 side-by-side competitors and required all entries to compete in a 5-km prologue (time qualifier) followed by five long stages.
Varela, whose credentials include the Brazilian SxS championship and winner of the Rally Dos Sertoes (Brazil’s Dakar), captured victory in the final stage by 23 seconds to cap his first Merzouga Rally victory and first for Can-Am.
Annett Fischer and co-driver Filipe Palmeiro, also driving a Can-Am Maverick X3 X rs Turbo R, took fourth place in Stage 5 and also earned podium glory in a race where roughly a third of all side-by-side class competitors retired.
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