Rally Raid
How Seth Quintero is rewriting the record books at the Dakar Rally
Having smashed the record for the most stage wins at the Dakar Rally, Seth Quintero is the youngest-ever factory team driver in Dakar history and hoping to be America's first Car class winner.
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Graduating from the T3 buggies, American Seth Quintero is the youngest factory-backed driver in Dakar Rally history and in the 2025 edition the 22-year-old native of California will be back at the wheel of the race-winning Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR DKR Hilux that's won three Dakar's since 2019. I
In switching to the cars category for the 2024 edition of the Dakar Rally, Quintero was the first driver to graduate from the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA and found himself up sharing the bivouac with ultra-experienced South African Giniel De Villiers and Brazil's Lucas Moraes – not to mention and racing against the biggest stars of the sport.
His premier class debut last year got off to an incredible start with a second place finish in the Prologue. Sadly, a broken oil pipe on Stage 4 ended his hopes of a record-breaking rookie performance, but continuing in the event under the 'Dakar Experience' rules he showed that he's not only got the raw speed, but also the drive and determination that marks out all great Dakar champions.
Ahead of the start of the 2025 Dakar Rally in Bisha, Saudi Arabia, on January 3, find out how this Cali kid ended up chasing glory in the world's most remote deserts.
Quintero and co-driver Dennis Zenz are ready to go with Toyota Gazoo Racing
© Kin Marcin/Red Bull Content Pool
01
Age is just a number
Let’s get this out the way: there’s no escaping that Quintero is very young for a Dakar Rally competitor and yet he’s already smashed the record for stage wins at the 2022 Dakar Rally. His 12 stage victories shattered the record of 10 set by three-time champion Pierre Lartigue in 1994. But the signs that Quintero was a special talent were already apparent the previous year when he won more stages (six) than any other driver in the 2021 edition, ahead of Kris Meeke and Cristina Gutiérrez.
I want to break every record that I possibly can
“I want to break every record that I possibly can. We broke the record of being the youngest-ever team. We broke the record for winning the most stages. Hopefully, we can break the record of being the youngest ever to win the Dakar.
“We're only getting started. I have got a lot left in me. Hopefully we can just keep going out and keep having fun.”
02
So how did he get this good, this young?
Seth grew up in a racing family
© Kin Marcin/Red Bull Content Pool
Like Formula One world champion Max Verstappen and WRC champion Kalle Rövanpera, he grew up in a racing family. He started riding quads at just four and when he turned 10 in 2012, his parents gifted him a Polaris buggy and his uncle built a custom roll cage small enough to protect the boy. After that, he spent every spare moment racing, refining his skills and – since off-road racers need to be able to repair their vehicles – learning to maintain the buggy at peak racing performance.
He started racing UTVs and became the 2014 UTV World Champion in the youth class . “All of a sudden here’s this 11-year-old who won the biggest race of the year,” he recalls. “That’s when Red Bull noticed me.” That support enabled Quintero to enter the Best in the Desert Championship, where he became the youngest driver to win the Mint 400, the Vegas to Reno, the UTV world championship in the pro category, the Parker 500 and the Silver State 300 in the SSV category.
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03
Though he was a racing champion, he tried to be like any other kid
Seth didn't always take the advice of his teachers
© Kin Marcin/Red Bull Content Pool
“Going to school was a blessing because I got to get away for a couple of hours from working on the cars or whatever it was,” says Quintero. “It was definitely tough because I was travelling and trying to figure out how to do my schoolwork without any help.
“But I'm glad to have gone through all the years of public school and didn’t go to a private school or home school.
“When I was in high school, I kept my circle very, very tight. I didn't really talk about racing. But I’ve had two really close friends for the past 16 years and they've been with me through this whole journey. Although I still get school counsellors and teachers messaging me to this day, which is super cool.”
But not everyone was as supportive. “There were also teachers that told me racing was a waste of my time, I should go to college and stop wasting my money," he says. "But here we are two years later, I am travelling the world, having the most fun I think I can ever have – and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon!”
04
Just don’t call him a rich kid
"The ones that bug me the most are the ones that call me a rich kid"
© Kin Marcin/Red Bull Content Pool
“The ones that bug me the most are the ones that call me a rich kid – because it’s not true at all," he says. "We're all just blue-collar workers. I think we've had so much success in racing inside the States and outside of the States because we work as hard as we can.”
As part of a racing community, Quintero has great connections and support, but he’s had to push himself all the way. “I’m lucky enough to share a workshop with [five-time Baja 1000 winner] Andy McMillin, who gives me a little piece in the corner. But I’m the only one who works on my car.
“I've been fortunate enough to build all my cars, and that's because I've been working so hard at it," he says. "My family is my whole programme: my uncle is my fabricator and my dad helps me when he can.”
05
The key to building a profile – be yourself
Can Seth Quintero become the first American to win Dakar's car class?
© Kin Marcin/Red Bull Content Pool
Motorsport is an expensive business and athletes need to attract sponsors, which means it’s vital to build a following on social media. But that can be a challenge if you’re too busy racing to stop and tell your followers to leave a like.
“Social media is part of my job but I'm so, so bad at it,” says Quintero. “I'm kind of an old soul. I hate social media and I hate anything to do with technology.
“So I'm not too worried about growing my followers. I'll let people come to me, and I think that's why I've had such an amazing community. I don't have the most followers in the world, but the followers I do have are some of the most supportive people that I've ever met in my life, and they want nothing more than to see me win.”
It’s also a double-edged sword because where there’s social media love, there’s also haters. But his extended family have brought him up to be tough and not worry about the critics. “I come from a really hard-headed family. My uncles, my dad and my older sister – they would bully me all the time,” he explains. “So these trolls don't really get to me too much.
“It's almost like they knew this was going to happen because they built something in my brain to handle stuff like that. I just laugh.”
06
Enjoying learning from the very best
“Driving is my thing. I've been driving a lot of different forms of motorsports. I’m hoping to branch out and my biggest goal is to be the most versatile driver I could be,” he explains. “So anything you throw me in, I'm going to drive it as hard as I can. I'm going to give it 110 percent. I've been wanting to do Dakar since I was very, very young.”
Quintero has been gaining vital experience by racing worldwide
© Kin Marcin/Red Bull Content Pool
Anything you throw me in, I'm going to drive it as hard as I can
That opportunity came in 2021: the addition of the T3 Lightweight category for the Dakar Rally blew the doors open for drivers who might otherwise struggle to get into the race. Quintero, along with Gutiérrez and Mitch Guthrie Jr from the Red Bull Off Road Junior Team have been groomed for success at the very highest level learning from legends like Peterhansel, Sainz and Al-Attiyah.
“I'm lucky enough to have a very tight group of friends in the rally-raid community," says Quintero. "We all take care of each other and make sure everyone is OK. Yes, we travel the world together, but also we want nothing more in the world than to beat each other!”
The Lightweights and UTV categories mean there’s now a clear path to race on four wheels all the way up to the Cars category. At 21, Quintero has decades of winning ahead of him.
07
His record wins in 2022 were not only a sign of his racing skill, but also his will to win
Seth's will to win is beyond question
© Kin Marcin/Red Bull Content Pool
His Dakar got off to a terrible start – two mechanical failures on the second stage meant he was out of the running for the overall championship. He could have packed up and gone home but instead, he fixed his OT3 and raced on. “I was really enjoying myself," he says. "I had no cause to stress out. If I didn't win a day, there were definitely plenty more to go. So, I really had no stress on my shoulders.”
But when he began a phenomenal sequence of wins, the pressure piled back on. “I got mentally more exhausted, and the competition wasn't getting any easier," he says. "It was just harder for me to go out there and go for another win when I knew it was just for a stage.
“Once the record [for the number of stage wins] got close, it got me excited again. Once we reached the day where I could set the record, I was so mentally drained and I didn't think that we were going to be able to do it. But sure enough, I turned it around as soon as the flag dropped.”
08
He's also an entrepreneur with designs on building a business empire
“I’m working on starting a clothing company,” Quintero reveals. “It’s something I'm passionate about.”
He’s also building his own multi-discipline sporting event based on his outside interests – Seth Quintero’s California Triple Crown. “The Triple Crown is where you start in the snow and then go to the desert and then the ocean to surf. You have to drive around and do it all in one day. And where I live (San Marcos, California), it's very, very possible.”
09
How does Quintero unwind?
“My friends and family definitely keep me sane," he explains. "Whenever I'm racing, I'll call my family, call my friends and really just try to not talk about racing. After a stage, I have debriefs with mechanics. I have to get ready for the next day. Drivers’ briefings, co-pilot debriefings, award ceremonies – if you're lucky, you get about an hour a day to kind of relax and go on the phone. So, I spend that hour talking to family, responding to everybody that I can respond to.”
Quintero has quickly learned the importance of downtime in the desert
© Kin Marcin/Red Bull Content Pool
Between races, he’s still busy either working on the car or catching up on his team admin. “I'm probably one of the worst at giving myself time off," he says. "I always seem to try to occupy myself and go out and do something, even if it's not driving.
“But I’m trying to focus on enjoying my free time – going out on the dirt bike more and going to surf more, do more hanging out with my friends.
“I usually miss Halloween. I usually miss Thanksgiving and I usually miss Christmas. But I’m making a point this year to spend more time hanging out with my friends and family”
10
Seth Quintero's record
2024: Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge – 3rd place overall Ultimate class
2023: World Rally-Raid Championship winner – T3 class
2023: Dakar Rally – runner-up
2022: Dakar Rally – record 12 stage wins
2021 – Dakar Rally: Youngest ever stage winner
2021 Best in the Desert UTV Pro Class – winner
2020: Best in the Desert UTV Pro Class – runner-up
Overall championship winner
2019 MINT 400 – winner
2019: BITD Vegas-to-Reno – winner
2019: UTV World Championship - winner
2019: Parker 250 – winner
2019: Silver State 300 – winner
2019: BITD Vegas-To-Reno – runner up
2018: MINT 400 – runner up
2015: World Off-Road Championship Series (WORCS) Youth class – winner
2015: UTV World Championship (Youth class)– winner
2014: UTV World Championship (Youth class)– winner
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