“I’ve had a good year!”

Antanas Kanopkinas might be about to embark on his first Dakar, with a Chinese quad brand that has also never raced a Dakar before, but they do so with lots of determination and plenty of ambition. And they have the results that suggest their self-belief is entirely warranted. On this year’s Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge Antanas finished fifth with another team member Adomas Gancierius crossing the line in third. Later, on the 2023 on the Rallye du Maroc, the team’s bikes finished 5th and 9th.

Antanas Kanopkinas: “The story with CFMOTO started after the Hunt the Wolf rally in 2019 which is like a Red Bull Romaniacs for quads. We finished in second place with their quad and CFMOTO were really pleased with the media coverage they received following this result. After that we started working together and built up confidence in each other. The plan is to do the entire W2RC next year with three quads but for the Dakar there will just be me. My goal is to finish everyday without any major incidents. Then when we come back next year with a minimum of two riders, maybe three, we can take the risk of pushing harder for results. Hopefully us competing with our 4X4 quad will encourage other manufacturers like Polaris and Can-Am to take part.”