Sara Price stepped out of her all-terrain vehicle at the Dakar Rally after a tough ride through the dust and dunes in Saudi Arabia, and checked whether she had made history in the endurance event.
“I don’t think an American woman has ever won a stage, right,” she asked.
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She was right: the 31-year-old Californian this week became the first female American driver and third woman ever to win a Dakar stage. And it came on her debut at the race.
Price has built a career remote adventures Worldwide. She is a former
But racing in Dakar was a different challenge. The off-road race, which was held this year over jagged rocks and canyons in Saudi territory, had only been a dream for Price since 2015.
“This year I finally said, you know what, I’m going,” Price said. “If that means spending every ounce of dollar I have in my savings account, then I’m going to make it happen. I don’t want to wait anymore. I tried to get sponsors and funding to make it happen for the last five years, I would say hard, but it just didn’t happen. It is a very expensive race to do.”
Price put up her own money, held fundraisers in her hometown of Canyon Lake, California to raise about $500,000 and “took a leap of faith” to reach Dakar. She warmed up for Dakar with a second-place finish overall in the World Rally-Raid Championship in Morocco in October. There, Price also became the first American woman to take a stage win in the race, known as Rallye Du Maroc.
“We really didn’t expect to do as well as we did, but we ended up winning some stages and making some history there,” Price said. “That was huge, especially to be at the forefront for our country. All the little girls who looked up to me and said, “Hey, I can do it too,” that’s pretty cool.
Price arrived in Saudi Arabia with a group that included her mechanic, navigator, best friend and friend: fellow racer Ricky Brabec, who in 2020 became the first American to win the motorcycle division in Dakar. Price raced in a country that existed alone ban lifted about female drivers in 2018.
“In the parts that I have been in Saudi Arabia, I have never felt uncomfortable,” she said. “There are times when I’m a little cautious. But what matters is that you understand it. Common sense. You have to respect other cultures and what they are like. Other people were raised differently and I respect that. I come to their country and know what I can do to make sure they feel comfortable, but also that I like it myself.”
Originally a circuit from Paris to Dakar, the race has been held in Saudi Arabia since 2020. Price – with help from navigator Jeremy Gray – joined Jutta Kleinschmidt of Spain and Cristina Gutiérrez of Spain as female winners in the Dakar. Price’s win came in the T4 class, for production models.
“If you go racing anywhere else in the world, everyone knows the Dakar Rally,” said Price. “They know that Dakar is the pinnacle of off-road. Everyone knows the racers. But when you come to America, not everyone is really familiar with it or they don’t know the racers. It is not as intense as in the rest of the world.”
Price hopes her stage win – with two stages to go, the next two days crucial to securing a victory or finishing on the podium – can open some eyes with fans and corporate sponsors in the American racing world.
“My whole life has been surrounded by racing,” she said. “I have raced from two to four wheels, in many different disciplines. This is the highlight for me.”