AVID Racing Yamaha will make their World Rally-Raid Championship début on 23–28 April when they bring “The Burrito” to the Sonora Rally. Camelia Liparoti will pilot the car in the T3 category, with Tony Albano as co-driver.
AVID UTV, an aftermarket parts manufacturer and supplier based in California, created the team—nicknamed “Project Last Stand”—in conjunction with Yamaha for the 2023 King of the Hammers, with Tyler Thomas driving “Burrito” while Rodney VanEperen piloted a second Yamaha YXZ1000R dubbed “Taquito”. Living up to AVID’s background, the cars are not fully stock with modifications like upgraded suspension to withstand KOH’s rocky terrain.
Burrito struggled with engine problems throughout its time at KOH before culminating in a drivetrain failure that knocked it out of the Can-Am UTV Hammers Championship. Despite the exit, it had shown early speed with Thomas by climbing from eighty-third to fifteenth on the opening lap. VanEperen bowed out after two laps.
While King of the Hammers is a rock crawling event with its own extremes that greatly differ from rally raid, there has been plenty of crossover between the disciplines. Both have also been dominated by Can-Am while Yamaha’s support is limited by comparison, though the latter has enjoyed success on occasion. Most notably, Yamahas swept the T3 podium in the eleventh leg of the W2RC season-opening Dakar Rally, one of two stage wins in the division for the Japanese manufacturer amid a sea of Can-Am triumphs.
Although the joint venture is a new face for the Sonora Rally, AVID UTV on its own is no stranger. Founder George LaMonte is a regular at the event, previously competing on a bike before switching to a YXZ1000R Turbo in 2019; after LaMonte raced on his own the first year, Albano began calling the shots for him the following year. The UTV efforts eventually inspired his company to develop the “Baby Raptor”, a 2017 YXZ1000R donning a miniaturised Ford Raptor body that Dave Sykes and Albano raced in 2021 before they lost a CV axle.
Liparoti raced at Dakar in a YXZ1000R Turbo Prototype for X-raid Team, who fielded seven such cars in T3 with factory backing from Yamaha. A six-time FIM Women’s Cross-Country World Champion, finished thirty-fifth in class after a late string of stage retirements. She was the T3 runner-up at the 2021 Dakar Rally, which remains the best overall finish for Yamaha in a UTV. While Yamaha is more known for its bikes, the bike rally raid programme was shuttered after the 2022 race (though the company has remained involved with two-wheelers in the sport via the new Ténéré Spirit Experience). Meanwhile, limited support for T3 entries continues whereas the Yamaha Raptor is the most popular vehicle in the Quad category.
