Photo: Flavian Duhamel/Red Bull Content Pool
Pablo Quintanilla has won the FIM’s Cross Country Rallies world title.
It’s been an unforgettable year for Quintanilla; he was on the podium at every rally in this year’s series, including a third in the Dakar rally and first in the Atacama Rally in his Chilean homeland. He ended the season with 96 points; the closest competitor was Sam Sunderland, with 89, then Toby Price (the Dakar champion) with 87. He clinched his title with a second-place finish in the OilLibya rally in Morocco last week.
Quintanilla raced for Husqvarna this year, which could prove to have interesting long term implications. For many years, KTM has been a dominant force in rally racing, particularly at Dakar, where if you don’t ride an orange bike, you won’t win. But Quintanilla’s success with Husky raises the question: Will he get so fast that KTM want him on their own team? Or are they happy to see Husky succeed?
Quintanilla is also possibly the face of a new generation of rally raid stars from South America. The Paris-Dakar was dominated by European riders, particularly French or Germans, when the race started in France. Now that the race has relocated to the New World, it’s possible we’re on the brink of a new breed of stars, who’ve grown up with the Dakar in their own back yard. Many of the biggest stars share a common language with their spectators now, and even if Dakar pulls out of South America, the seeds for a surge of young off-road talent have undoubtedly been planted.
