The King of the Hammers is an off-road race that combines desert racing and rock crawling, and is touted to be one of the toughest one-day races in the world. Held in the Mojave Desert, in California, the race saw the Mahindra ROXOR driven by Jesse Haines win first place, beating 130 other participants.

The punishing 143-mile course consisted of high-speed lake beds, scooped out roads, and some of the hardest rock-crawling canyons in the world. Only 38 of the 122 EMC vehicles that took the green flag were able to reach the finish line. Haines started 110th, but moved up and finished 19th overall and first in class. He beefed up his ROXOR with a rugged leaf-spring suspension, tweaking the stock turbo-diesel motor and installing portal axles.

Jesse Haines, winner of the King of the Hammers 2020, said, “The ROXOR’s turbodiesel engine was a real advantage today. The first lap in the desert we knew that we were outgunned by more powerful vehicles with coil suspension, but the ROXOR just never stopped chugging along.”

Halfway through the race, the ROXOR rolled on to one side in a rocky canyon as Haines attempted to overtake the class leader. But Haines and co-driver Justin Sexton were able to right the vehicle and continue the race.

With over seven decades of proven capabilities, Mahindra prides itself on the ROXOR’s simplicity and durability under the most demanding of conditions.