2023 Sonora Rally: From The Checkered Flag’s Newsroom

The 2023 Sonora Rally marked the first time that the World Rally-Raid Championship visited the Americas. The Checkered Flag provided in-depth, live coverage of all five stages (six including the Prologue) and other related stories on social media and in article form here.

Missed any reports? Take a look below!

Pre-race stories

24 November 2022: 2023 Road to Dakar races include W2RC legs, South Africa 20 January: TCF‘s Dakar Rally newsroom 7 March: TCF‘s Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge newsroom 18 March: Eduard Pons contesting rest of W2RC ahead of Dakar début in 2024 18 March: Kove Moto entering Sonora Rally 18 March: 2023 Sonora Rally route revealed 29 March: Neels Theric becomes Kove factory rider 31 March: Jean-Loup Lepan skipping Sonora Rally 31 March: 2023 Sonora Rally route tweaked 5 April: X Rally Team to début Prodrive Hunter at Sonora Rally 6 April: 2023 Sonora Rally competitors face over 1,200 km of racing 6 April: Ultimate Ironman Challenge to reward Sonora Rally/Mexican 1000 double 8 April: Rebecca Busi joins FN Speed Team for American W2RC rounds 9 April: AVID Racing Yamaha bringing “Burrito” to Sonora Rally 11 April: Francisco López Contardo resumes W2RC pursuit after paternal leave 13 April: Sunier returns to Kove for Sonora, joined by Neels Theric and Mike Johnson 13 April: Jatin Jain, Sebastián Olarte pursuing Dakar 2024 ticket at Sonora 15 April: Red Bull GasGas duo returns for Sonora 15 April: Étienne Gélinas’ Dakar 2024 quest runs through Sonora 17 April: Cameron Thixton drops Dakar 2024 plans due to funding, still supporting brother Ashley 17 April: Off Piste Adventure bringing Dukes, Ransom, Stalker to Sonora Rally 17 April: Dwain Barnard and Ronald Venter gear up for Sonora in Dakar 2024 pursuits 19 April: 116 on provisional entry list 23 April: Competitors shake down Mexico desert

Overall winners

Class	Number	Competitor	Team	Time	Recap
T1	201	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Toyota Gazoo Racing	10:29:55	Recap
T3	302	Mitch Guthrie	Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team	11:17:24	Recap
T4	400	Rokas Baciuška	Red Bull Can-Am Factory Racing	11:51:05	Recap
RallyGP	18	Daniel Sanders	Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing	11:01:09	Recap
Rally2	17	Romain Dumontier	HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing	11:48:21	Recap
Rally3	57	Massimo Camurri	Freedom Rally Racing	15:59:16	Recap
Quad	162	Laisvydas Kancius	AG Dakar School	15:33:14	Recap
National Car/UTV	605	Sara Price*	SP Motorsports	17:14:04	Recap
National Enduro	513	Brendan Crow*	Brendan Crow	16:37:36	Recap
National Malle Moto	501	Matt Sutherland*	Matt Sutherland	18:24:08	Recap
Road to Dakar	526	Francisco Alvarez*	Freedom Rally Racing	17:56:38	Recap

* – Not competing in World Rally-Raid Championship

Stage recaps

Stage	Date	Overall Cars winner	Overall Bikes winner	Recap
Prologue	23 April	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	Bradley Cox	Recap
Stage #1	24 April	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Tosha Schareina*	Recap
Stage #2	25 April	Sébastien Loeb	Daniel Sanders	Recap
Stage #3	26 April	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	Daniel Sanders	Recap
Stage #4	27 April	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Toby Price	Recap
Stage #5	28 April	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	Daniel Sanders	Recap