Of the seven World Rally-Raid Championship categories that awarded a title in 2024, SSV featured the closest points battle entering the final race at the Rallye du Maroc. Sebastián Guayasamín was hanging on to a six-point advantage over Yasir Seaidan, though factoring in stage points meant the latter needed some help from his fellow rivals to throw a wrench into Guayasamín’s lead in order to pass him.
Fortunately for the Saudi, the desert profile of Morocco worked perfectly in his favour and the large SSV grid did some interference. Seaidan was the only points-earning SSV driver to win a stage outright in Morocco, and was the best finisher among such competitors in four of five legs to maximise his points.
Although Guayasamín kept pace with W2RC driver podiums in every stage, Seaidan’s bonus points sliced the gap enough until he simply had to beat Guayasamín in the overall to win the title. This was made all the easier as he went into the last stage leading him by 14:38.
Seaidan delivered the coup de grâce with a runner-up finish outright and tops among W2RC racers in Stage #5. Although Guayasamín finished second for such drivers, Seaidan nipped him for the title by just two points.
The title is his first at the international level after claiming the 2013 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies in the T3 (now Challenger) category. He is also the first Saudi driver to win a W2RC trophy since its inception in 2022.
After the race, Guayasamín filed a protest against Seaidan claiming he had a non-functioning right-front wheel while on public roads in the post-Stage #4 liaison. Under Article 27.1.9 of the FIA’s cross-country rally regulations, a car that is “on a road section that is a public road” must “be driven on four freely rotating wheels and tyres,” with violators automatically being ruled as a stage retirement. Seaidan explained the right-front suspension had broken in the Selective Section but was repaired before going onto public roads, while the roads’ fesh fesh gave the impression that the wheel was not turning.
The FIA threw out the case after deducing Guayasamín had conflated the liaison for public roads: the stewards’ report explicitly stated, “Not all roads used for road sections are public roads” and that “if a road is not used for public traffic, it cannot be considered a public road within the meaning of FIA 2024 CCRSR Art. 27.1.9.”
Even with his protest going nowhere, Guayasamín was celebratory of his runner-up finish and being able to travel “across four continents to achieve this second place for Ecuador.” His co-driver Fernando Acosta also secured the navigators’ title after points leader Fausto Mota switched to Challenger to work with Rokas Baciuška for the race.
“The fight was incredibly tough,” Guayasamín stated. “Right up to the last kilometre, we were still in contention for the championship. The good news is we achieved something historic for Ecuador, which is second place in the World Championship. We are the runners-up, and I’m really happy because now we have a big celebration. My family is here tonight as well so I couldn’t ask for anything more.
“When the championship started in January, we didn’t have a budget prepared for the full season, but we made it happen step by step.”
Besides Guayasamín, Alexandre Pinto provided the biggest challenge to Seaidan throughout the rally despite not competing for points. Pinto, an FIA European Baja Cup regular who finished fifth in Challenger at the W2RC’s BP Ultimate Rally-Raid, was relatively new to desert rallies but looked right at home with three stage wins.
In finishing second to Seaidan, Pinto won the Road to Dakar to earn free registration for the 2025 Dakar Rally.
Ricardo Ramilo and Rebecca Busi were the only other drivers with a mathematical shot at the SSV title, albeit very slim chances as they respectively trailed Guayasamín by twenty and forty-one points. Ramilo retired after three stages whereas Busi finished fourth overall to pass him for third in the standings.
“We got the title and I couldn’t be more happy,” wrote Busi on her OnlyFans page. “We are the third best in the world.”
SSV overall results
| Finish | Number | Driver | Co-Driver | Team | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 401 | Yasir Seaidan | Michaël Metge | Race World Team | 17:19:00 | Leader |
| 2 | 411 | Alexandre Pinto* | Bernardo Oliveira | Old Friends Rally Team | 17:29:38 | + 30:28 |
| 3 | 400 | Sebastián Guayasamín | Fernando Acosta | BE Racing | 17:44:38 | + 25:38 |
| 4 | 403 | Rebecca Busi | Sergio Lafuente | OnlyFans Racing | 18:26:28 | + 1:07:28 |
| 5 | 418 | Paul Severn* | Max Delfino | Xtremeplus | 18:51:35 | + 1:32:35 |
| 6 | 414 | Fidel Castillo Ruiz* | Anuar Osman | BE Racing | 18:59:13 | + 1:40:13 |
| 7 | 420 | Alexander Toril* | Jean Brucy | Escudería JMP Racing | 19:08:07 | + 1:49:07 |
| 8 | 438 | Francisco Guedes* | Rui Pita | Santag Racing | 20:18:28 | + 2:59:28 |
| 9 | 431 | Grzegorz Brochocki* | Grzegorz Komar | Overlimit | 20:48:39 | + 3:29:39 |
| 10 | 421 | Andrea Schiumarini* | Nuncio Coffaro | TH-Trucks | 20:49:32 | + 3:30:32 |
| 11 | 417 | Juan Manuel Maña* | Giovanna Di Blasi | BE Racing | 20:55:00 | + 3:36:00 |
| 12 | 432 | Pablo Copetti* | Santiago Hansen | MMP Compétition | 21:24:57 | + 4:05:57 |
| 13 | 436 | Gauthier Honvault* | Maxime Braulle | Drag’on Rally Race Service | 22:31:21 | + 5:12:21 |
| 14 | 405 | Claude Fournier | Serge Gounon | MMP Compétition | 23:09:15 | + 5:50:15 |
| 15 | 419 | William Grarre* | Vincent Ferri | Team Horizon Off-Road | 24:11:30 | + 6:52:30 |
| 16 | 435 | Bertrand Honvault* | Kevin Bailly | Drag’on Rally Race Service | 25:01:45 | + 7:42:45 |
| 17 | 437 | Domingo Román* | Óscar Bravo | TH-Trucks | 26:10:45 | + 8:51:45 |
| 18 | 433 | Michaël Devos* | Xavier Hottelet | Ndoki Racing Team | 27:23:11 | + 10:04:11 |
| 19 | 426 | Aleksander Szustkowski* | Jaroslaw Kazberuk | Xtremeplus | 28:02:31 | + 10:43:31 |
| 20 | 422 | Adrien Choblet* | Laurent Magat | Team Casteu Trophy | 39:07:45 | + 21:48:45 |
| 21 | 427 | José Óscar Nogueira* | Arcelio Couto | Old Friends Rally Team | 40:48:06 | + 23:29:06 |
| 22 | 434 | José Ignacio Gayoso* | Santiago Ramiro | TH-Trucks | 59:11:25 | + 41:52:25 |
| DNF | 402 | Ricardo Ramilo | Sergi Brugué | Scuderia Ramilo | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 404 | Enrico Gaspari | Ricardo Torlaschi | TH-Trucks | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 408 | Hélder Rodrigues* | Gonçalo Reis | Old Friends Rally Team | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 412 | Juan Miguel Fidel* | Javier Ventaja | Herrador Factory Team | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 423 | Jérôme Daniel* | Nicolas Larroquet | Team Casteu Trophy | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 425 | Carlos Vento* | Julian Villarrubia | Old Friends Rally Team | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 430 | Jérémie Renou* | Antoine Sanchez | YDEO Competition | DNF | N/A |
SSV stage winners
| Stage | Driver | Time |
| Prologue | Alexandre Pinto* | 18:47 |
| Stage #1 | Alexandre Pinto* | 2:32:37 |
| Stage #2 | Yasir Seaidan | 3:33:51 |
| Stage #3 | Alexandre Pinto* | 4:03:01 |
| Stage #4 | Helder Rodrigues* | 3:33:51 |
| Stage #5 | Fidel Castillo Ruiz* | 2:55:10 |
W2RC SSV standings
For readability, competitors registered for the championship but did not earn points are excluded.
Drivers’ standings
| Rank | Driver | Points | Margin |
| 1 | Yasir Seaidan | 208 | Leader |
| 2 | Sebastián Guayasamín | 206 | – 2 |
| 3 | Rebecca Busi | 155 | – 53 |
| 4 | Ricardo Ramilo | 141 | – 67 |
| 5 | Claude Fournier | 92 | – 116 |
| 6 | Enrico Gaspari | 75 | – 133 |
| 7 | Sara Price | 74 | – 134 |
| 8 | João Ferreira | 73 | – 135 |
| 9 | Cristiano de Sousa Batista | 52 | – 156 |
| 10 | Michele Cinotto | 22 | – 186 |
| 11 | Eduard Pons | 16 | – 192 |
| 12 | André Thewessen | 13 | – 195 |
Co-drivers’ standings
| Rank | Co-Driver | Points | Margin |
| 1 | Fernando Acosta | 206 | Leader |
| 2 | Fausto Mota | 172 | – 34 |
| 3 | Sergio Lafuente | 155 | – 51 |
| 4 | Michaël Metge | 117 | – 89 |
| 5 | Serge Gounon | 92 | – 114 |
| 6 | Adrien Metge | 91 | – 115 |
| 7 | Jeremy Gray | 74 | – 132 |
| 8 | Filipe Palmeiro | 73 | – 133 |
| 9 | Aku Facundo Jaton | 31 | – 175 |
| 10 | Cesare Rickler | 30 | – 176 |
| 11 | Maurizio Dominella | 22 | – 184 |
| 12 | Marc Solà Terradellas | 21 | – 185 |
| 13 | Jaume Betriu | 16 | – 190 |
| 14 | Alberto Marcon | 14 | – 192 |
| 15 | Dmytro Tsyro | 13 | – 193 |
