Winner of the 2024 Dakar in the SSV category, Xavier de Soultrait approached the 2025 edition with the ambition of once again playing the leading roles. The Nivernais from Neuville-lès-Decize, based in Moulins (Allier), was up to the task, fighting for victory during a good part of the race, two weeks long and nearly 8,000 kilometers. Mechanical problems ultimately deprived him of the win, then the finisher’s medal. “We won last year, so it’s always disappointing, especially since we were in second place with a lead behind us. It’s a shame. » But everything is not to be thrown away for the Nivernais and his navigator Martin Bonnet. Far from it.
“We weren’t able to train too much”
The title holders had to face new competitors, and not the least: the returning “Chaleco” Lopez, already a winner in the category in the past, and the American Brock Heger, a beginner, but a specialist in the discipline at home. . “We found ourselves in the lead from the start of the race and we spent the first week there. The pace was good,” underlines Martin Bonnet. “Then we had some small mechanical problems. It goes faster, but you have to be more precise, not to make mistakes, not to break… There was a lot of competition, they raised the level. We had to increase the pace, and we did it. We made some mistakes, not always our fault. It’s rather positive like Dakar. »
Xavier de Soultrait joins his co-driver and learns a crucial lesson: if they want to beat these new rivals, the two men must arrive with more preparation. “We said to ourselves that this Dakar was a Dakar on which we were going to make a lot of progress, and it’s true that we are going much faster. But everything has to follow: the mechanics, the navigation, our automation… We haven’t driven since the 2024 edition, so it’s complicated. We spent two days together in Morocco, we weren’t able to train too much. We need to ride more. » According to our information, the duo is negotiating a busier schedule in 2025.
-“Great potential”
The two men arrived on Friday January 17 at the end of a Dakar that was “difficult for the mechanics. There were long days of rocks, we didn’t have much sand. It’s a little frustrating, but in the end, it was when there was sand that our heads were cut off! », jokes Xavier de Soultrait, in reference to the breakdown of the penultimate stage, in the dunes of the Empty Quarter. “That’s how it is, it’s the Dakar. There are more serious things in life. We will remember that we had great pace, that we made a lot of mistakes and that we have great potential for the future,” conclude the two accomplices.
Verdict. The SSV category was won by Americans Brock Heger and Max Eddy, teammates of Xavier de Soultrait within the Sébastien Loeb Racing-RZR Factory Racing team.
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