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 desertOverall 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 |
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 |