SAN MARCOS, Calif. — Seth Quintero is a 19-year old driver from San Marco who is leaving his mark after just two appearances in the Dakar Rally, which is known as the world’s toughest motor race.
In 2021 as an 18-year-old rookie, he became the youngest driver to ever win a stage at Dakar.
“We’re new record holders, which is awesome,” Seth Quintero said.
This year in the 2022 race, he broke the record for most stage wins in a single Dakar. It’s a 13-stage race and Seth won 12 stages. The old record was 10. Despite winning 12 of the 13 stages, he didn’t win the race.
“With Dakar, it doesn’t matter how many stages you win. It’s quite the race.”
In stage 2, Quintero had brake issues and had to be towed to the next stop. His team was given a 10-hour penalty for arriving late and that put them too far behind to catch up in the overall standings over the next 11 stages.
The record for the youngest driver to win the event was set by a 26-year old. So Seth has another 7 years to add that to his list of Dakar Rally record book entries.
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