After an impressive début in 2024, Sara Price will run her second Dakar Rally next January with former winner Sean Berriman by her side. The two will compete in the SSV category in a Can-Am Maverick R, set to be FIA-approved for the 2025 season.
Price clinched free registration for the 2024 Dakar after winning the National Car/UTV class and the Road to Dakar at the 2023 Sonora Rally. Afterwards, she entered the Rallye du Maroc to prepare for Dakar and finished runner-up in the SSV class with two stage wins.
Although relatively new to rally raid, her strong entry into the discipline continued at Dakar. She became the third woman to win a Dakar stage when she topped her class in Stage #10, and went on to finish fourth overall in SSV and second among those registered for the World Rally-Raid Championship behind eventual champion Yasir Seaidan.
She had hoped to run the full 2024 season but was sidelined by funding issues. Instead, she focused on the E1 Series electric boat racing championship, finishing second in points alongside Lucas Ordóñez for Westbrook Racing.
“I’m thrilled to team up with Sean and the Can-Am Factory Team for Dakar 2025,” Price said. “Sean’s experience and success in Dakar bring an immense amount of knowledge to the table, and with Can-Am’s support, we’re well-positioned to make a serious impact and give it all we got to fight for that top spot.”
Berriman won the 2020 Dakar Rally in the UTV class (predecessor to the current SSV and Challenger divisions) as the navigator for Casey Currie.
The Maverick R is touted as one of the top UTVs on the market since its release in August 2023, enjoying success in North American desert racing. Although it will not be homologated by the FIA until 2025, the vehicle has proven quick in rally raids as well: it won the Open Cars class at the W2RC’s Desafío Ruta 40 in June then set faster overall times than those in the usual SSV class at the Rallye du Maroc earlier in October.
Price became a factory driver for Can-Am in 2023 after a years-long partnership with Polaris.
“Can-Am has been absolutely amazing,” Price told The Checkered Flag after her 2023 Sonora win. “The professionalism, the quality of people, equipment, just the way they handle themselves has been such an amazing thing to do with them. I can’t say enough. Even when I need parts last minute, like I got signed by Can-Am at the beginning of the year, I had three weeks to prepare for King of the Hammers and I had parts in two weeks. That’s unheard of, and that does not happen with the OEM.
“It’s been honestly incredible, and their support from the side of racing, you have Simon (Belzile, head of Bombardier Recreational Products), you have the R&D department that works closely with me and us to make sure we have the best equipment and teach us about it. It’s been incredible. I’m very grateful to be a part of the Can-Am family and I’m absolutely loving it. Maybe my missing link was Can-Am and then also my team I created this year because now we’ve kind of been unstoppable and I’m so proud of it.”
The 2025 Dakar Rally will take place on 3–17 January.
