In 2022, Pol Tarrés and his Yamaha Ténéré 700 set the Guinness World Document for the very best altitude reached by a bike when he climbed 6,157.5 metres up Cerro Mercedario in Argentina. Two years later, on 7 March, he returned to the Andes to crush his personal report, this time ascending the Nevado Ojos del Salado volcano in Chile to a top of 6,677 metres on the Ténéré World Raid.
Tarrés was joined by Yamaha’s Javi Echevarria (challenge supervisor), Miguel Echevarria (movie crew), Ahikar Azcona (Yamaha ambassador), and Joan Espasa (movie crew) for the journey. Gerardo Bauty, Thomas Caballero, Juan León, and Cristian Órdenes served as his guides on the mountain. His crew, dubbed the Trece Racing Society, additionally had assist from RAM Vans.
After spending two weeks getting used to the mountain ambiance, Tarrés and the crew battled by way of snow and impassible routes from Refugio Murray to the volcano’s summit and primary crater. They efficiently achieved the aim in fifty minutes.
His Ténéré was geared up with the GYTR competitors package, which replaces the inventory ECU with a rally raid-style setup and has extra gasoline capability, the latter of which was a priority in the course of the 2022 effort. He additionally introduced a Yamaha YZ450FX with rally trim, which climbed to six,767 metres whereas scouting out the route.
“Above six thousand metres, all the things appears to go tremendous sluggish,” stated Tarrés. “The bodily exhaustion is indescribable and there’s no room for errors. Even strolling is a problem, not to mention using a Ténéré at this altitude.”
Ojos del Salado is the very best volcano on Earth and the very best level in Chile. 4 months previous to Tarrés’ run, fellow rally raider Romain Dumas climbed the dormant volcano in a modified Porsche 911 to six,734 metres to set the four-wheel altitude report.
In his traditional day job with Yamaha, Tarrés leads the Ténéré Yamaha Rally Crew alongside Alessandro Botturi. In January, he received three levels and completed third total on the Africa Eco Race that follows the unique Paris–Dakar Rally route. Tarrés scored his maiden raly raid win on the 2023 Transanatolia Rally in a 1–2 end for the crew.
