Saturday was a day for Sonora Rally entrants to test and fine tune their cars and bikes before setting out on their five-stage adventure.
After skipping Abu Dhabi and Sonora, Pablo Copetti will run the next World Rally-Raid Championship leg at the Desafío Ruta 40. He had been the Quad points leader after the Dakar Rally.
28 FIA, 34 FIM, 12 National Car/UTV, and 42 National Moto entries make up the provisional field for the Sonora Rally.
South African enduro riders Dwain Barnard and Ronald Venter have been training in Namibia for the Sonora Rally, one of the avenues to run the 2024 Dakar Rally.
Off Piste Adventure’s Sonora Rally riders include Road to Dakar rider Matthew Ransom in his third try, Sonora newcomer Jordan Dukes, and rally raid débutant Luke Stalker.
Brothers Ashley and Cameron Thixton hoped to make their Dakar Rally débuts together in 2024, but a lack of funding has forced Cam to drop the plans. He’ll still help his older brother achieve the goal in the meantime.
Canada’s Étienne Gélinas hopes to race in the 2024 Dakar Rally, and his next shot will be the upcoming Sonora Rally. The start comes on the heels of his Baja 1000 début last November.
After both missed the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge due to injuries, Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing’s Sam Sunderland and Daniel Sanders are back in action at the Sonora Rally.
Team Diespro will field bikes for Sebastián Olarte and Jatin Jain at the Sonora Rally in the Road to Dakar programme, in which the best finisher can earn free entry into the 2024 Dakar Rally.
After finishing the Dakar Rally, Sunier will remain with Kove Moto for the Sonora Rally. Joining him and new factory rider Neels Theric will be the American rally veteran Mike Johnson.
After skipping the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge to focus on raising his newborn, Francisco López Contardo is back in the World Rally-Raid Championship for Sonora onwards.
Avid Racing Yamaha, a partnership between Yamaha and AVID UTV, will run the Sonora Rally with Camelia Liparoti piloting the “Burrito” Yamaha YXZ1000R.
After running the season-opening Dakar Rally for HRT, Rebecca Busi will join FN Speed Team for the Sonora Rally and Desafío Ruta 40.
Solo riders who attempt both the Sonora Rally and the Mexican 1000 will have a shuttle bus between events.
After revising the route, the 2023 Sonora Rally will be 2,091 kilometres total with 1,249 km in Special Stages across five legs.
X Rally Team’s new Prodrive Hunter will race for the first time in Mexico at the Sonora Rally with Cristian and Marcos Baumgart.
ParaBaja Step by Step, a programme to help people with reduced mobility break into off-road racing, will support the Spanish Cross-Country Rally Championship in 2023.
