INTERVIEW: Rodrigo Ampudia recounts “confidence booster” San Felipe 250 win

Rodrigo Ampudia‘s luck always seemed to run dry whenever the SCORE International season began at the San Felipe 250, but things finally turned in his favour in the 2023 edition as he won the Pro UTV Forced Induction and was the top-finishing UTV overall.

On Wednesday, Ampudia sat down with The Checkered Flag to talk about his race and plans for 2023 with Can-Am.

Race Recap

“It’s definitely a confidence booster. It’s something that we’ve always felt sure that we could do. It was very exciting to be able to have a plan, execute it, and deliver the overall win for Can-Am.”

Rodrigo Ampudia

Ampudia’s #2910 Can-Am Maverick X3 was the twenty-fourth entry in Pro UTV FI to start the race, with just two others rounding out the order excluding the quartet who willingly began at the back. Unlike the Trophy Trucks who had qualifying, the UTVs and all other categories were subject to a random draw to determine starting position.

Unlike in traditional pavement motorsport, starting further back in desert racing is generally advantageous as such competitors can follow the path laid down by those who went first. Such a method is so effective that in the global World Rally-Raid Championship, the FIM rewards the first three bike starters with time bonuses to compensate for time they might have lost from having to “pave” the route across untouched sand.

“That draw position was on purpose,” Ampudia explained. “I wanted to start towards the back but not be the last one, so it worked very well.

“We were the first car on the road by Mile 69 but we had a pit stop there and that’s when the other car passed us, but we were second car on the road all day. Just ran smooth. Kept within five minutes ahead of us and just stuck to our plan. We were happy with the plan and I feel we have enough experience to be able to come up with a plan, deliver results, and accomplish our goal to win.”

Various drivers including fellow Can-Ams Edgar Garcia León and P.J. Jones made up his main opposition in Pro UTV FI, while rival manufacturer Polaris provided challenges for the UTV overall in neighbouring categories Pro UTV Open and Pro Stock UTV. After losing the lead for his RM 70 pit stop, electronic control unit issues befell his Maverick eighty miles later.

In spite of the latter, he and co-driver Juan Guenary were able to resolve the matter before re-entering the race.

“Something came loose,” he recalled. “I don’t know what happened but the car would shut down, the dash, so everything connected to the car’s ECU would turn off basically. It happened four times where the car would just shut off completely and the first time I was like, ‘Oh, I thought it was an electrical problem.’ But then I realised that the GPS and the radio were on, so I was like, ‘Okay, it’s something with the car’s harness,’ and we figured out a way to troubleshoot it. The first time, it took us about three to four minutes to figure it out and get it going, and then after that, we already had a plan and we’d go through the process to fire it back up again and keep going.”

The #2910 team reclaimed the lead at RM 235 and retained it for the final thirty miles to secure the victory with a time of six hours, sixteen minutes, seventeen seconds. Despite an eighteen-second speeding penalty, Ampudia beat León for the Pro UTV FI win by over sixteen minutes. It was his maiden San Felipe victory and first in SCORE as the Driver of Record since the inaugural Baja 400 in 2019.

Perhaps making the win all the sweeter, his younger brother Alan Ampudia finished runner-up in the Trophy Truck class to reigning SCORE champion Luke McMillin. The duo, joined by their third brother Aaron, had teamed up to win the 2019 Baja 1000 in Rodrigo’s most recent SCORE overall triumph until San Felipe.

“My dad was just happy the car finished and to be on the podium, it just made it extra special,” remarked Ampudia. “To finish in the Can-Am, I’ve never finished the San Felipe race without issues, so to be able to finish without an issue, finish on the podium, get the UTV overall, it was the icing on the cake, the cherry on top. It made it extra special. The spirit of the team is extra motivated, we know we have what it takes to win and we’re working harder to improve on the little things that we know we can make better.”

The Course

In the weeks leading up to the race, the course garnered much attention thanks to its “Mini Summit”, a rocky fifteen-mile pass through mountains that would have comprised RM 138 through 154. However, SCORE elected to introduce an alternate 34.80-mile route that went around the Summit before ultimately making it mandatory for Four-Wheelers like UTVs and Trophy Trucks.

Various competitors expressed disappointment at the change as the Summit’s terrain made for a welcome challenge. Many likened crossing the rocks to rock crawling events such as King of the Hammers, which Ampudia ran in March.

“My plan was to go through the Mini Summit the entire time,” he said. “It was about forty-five minutes faster to go through the Mini Summit, so I was like, ‘I can almost lose an hour there and still be good on time instead of going all the way around.’ My plan was to go through there just to have to drive less miles in the whoops.

“We went through there three times, and then we went through the bypass lane, we pre-ran it twice. We were ready for either option.”

Even with the absence of the Mini Summit, there was more to the course that showed its difficulties despite being the shortest race on the SCORE calendar.

“San Felipe is always a super hard course. It’s super tough on equipment,” Ampudia commented. “This is the first year that I have a race that I don’t have to get out of the car in San Felipe, so that was kind of our goal to, you know, not have to get out of the car, keep going. Unfortunately, we had some issues with the vehicle towards the end but we were able to troubleshoot them from inside the car and keep going.”

Beating Polaris

While other manufacturers have joined the battle and seen success, the UTV categories are typically a duel between Can-Am and Polaris. Both makes have various factory-backed operations like Ampudia with the former, but Polaris cranked it up a notch for 2023 when they introduced Polaris RZR Factory Racing, a full factory team competing in Pro UTV Open with a specifically race-built RZR Pro R.

Polaris Factory team principal Craig Scanlon won in Pro UTV Open with a time of 6:22:56 to fall short of Ampudia by six minutes. Wayne Matlock, another Polaris factory driver, joined Ampudia and Scanlon in the overall podium as his time edged out León’s by over a minute.

“I feel that we have a solid platform and we’re there to capitalise on their mistakes,” Ampudia stated. “It came down to time and penalties, but whoever comes up at the end, if you win by a minute or a mile, winning’s winning, and we’ll take the win over all our rivals with the new factory teams and also the competitors in our class.

“The class was heavy. We were running in second place on corrected time for most of the race. Our plan was to have a solid car towards the end and push if we had to, and that’s what we did and we came up on top, so we’re really happy with the result.”

UTV racing has grown in recent years, with some even keeping pace even with Trophy Trucks depending on the course. For example, SNORE’s Battle at Primm qualifying on Friday saw the Can-Am of Mint 400 Limited Race winner Joe Terrana set the second fastest overall time behind truck driver BJ Baldwin, qualifying just two seconds back.

Factory programmes have also grown overseas with the continually expanding T3 and T4 categories in the W2RC, both of which have seen Can-Am success.

Ampudia described the discipline’s development as “exciting. The more competitors the better. I know a lot of people look for the weaker classes, and I want to race against the best in the world, and I want to prove that our Can-Am programme, our builders, and our partners are the best in the industry and that we have what it takes to win. We delivered on the first weekend and our plan is to keep delivering on that same page.”

Honouring Ken Block

Ampudia’s Maverick sported a different look for San Felipe as its livery was based on Ken Block‘s grey-and-blue lightning bolt scheme Ford Focus RX from Gymkhana TEN. Released in 2018, the episode was filmed in Guanajuato, Mexico.

While Block is more known for his rally exploits, he was close with the Ampudia family. In 2021, he teamed up with Alan to race the Baja 1000 in a Trophy Truck and finished fourth overall.

Since his death in January, many figures in the off-road world have paid tribute through number retirements, special stickers and liveries like Ampudia’s, and even the return of the beloved Gymkhana GRiD. Ampudia débuted the special look at King of the Hammers, but elected to retain it for San Felipe after bowing out at the former.

“Since he passed away, we were heartbroken. There were plans to race with him in the Baja 1000, for him and Alan to race the Trophy Truck,” said Ampudia. “I’ve had a very, very nice relationship with his family, his wife (Lucy). When I was at his service, I had a conversation with his wife and she’s like, ‘Just send it, I want you to go for it.’ I was like, ‘Alright, we’re going to go for it, but we’re going to do a tribute.’ We’re going to tribute his legacy, his honour, what he’s done with motorsports.’

“I was only going to do it for the King of the Hammers race, but after not being so successful, I was like, ‘You know what, we’re going to bring this to SCORE. We’re going to have the Mexico fans be able to see the car that, for me, looks amazing, and we’re going to pay tribute to his legacy, putting it up top.’ And that was what we ended up doing.

“It was very special. I hope I made the Block family proud. Their foundation and everything that Ken Block has left for us, we’re definitely going to keep paying tribute to him and keep honouring his legacy.”

For now, Ampudia only intends to use the livery for KOH and San Felipe but is more than open to continuing the Block salute throughout the year via stickers or using Block’s other cars as templates for different schemes.

“I’ve been thinking of just adding Ken Block golden stickers to the car every win we get or doing Ken Block-inspired liveries with more of my colours,” he continued. “I’ve been debating it. I really like how the car looks.

“I don’t know, maybe we just keep adding golden Ken Block stickers to every race we win.”

2023 Plans

Ampudia is set for a busy 2023 beyond San Felipe, with plans besides competition like television specials, media projects, and off-roading with Can-Am and sponsor Monster Energy. For example, he intends to take part in the Trail of Missions, an off-road trek down the Baja California peninsula led by Trophy Truck driver and fellow Monster Energy athlete Cameron Steele.

“We’re doing quite a bit of stuff outside of racing with Can-Am,” he began. “Coming right up, we’re doing a TV show with a Mexican network that they want to come visit Baja and take him on a ride through Baja and see those hidden spots and get to know more about our sport. Then we’re going to do Trail of Missions with Cameron Steele, so that’s kind of what’s coming up right now and hopefully we can. I have some personal video projects that I’d like to be able to accomplish this year as well.”

While riding the high of victory, the Baja 1000 is currently not on Ampudia’s schedule. He teamed up with 2020 Dakar Rally T4 winner and then-Monster colleague Austin Jones for the 2022 race, which allowed Ampudia to connect with Jones’ South Racing Can-Am team that competes in the W2RC. The duo finished tenth in Pro UTV FI.

“It was awesome racing with South Racing, I definitely learned a lot hanging out with that team,” he recalled. “It’s the biggest Can-Am factory international team in the world, so I definitely went with open eyes and open mind of learning and seeing what they have and being able to spend quite a bit of time in that car. I feel I learned quite a bit as well, so it was really exciting and hopefully we can come up with a plan for the Baja 1000. As of right now, we don’t have any plans of running the Baja 1000.”

Although South Racing is a fellow Can-Am outfit, another partnership with them and Jones is out of the picture as both joined forces with Red Bull for 2023. Even without Jones or South, Ampudia still has plenty of UTV-driving friends at Monster like Phil Blurton, Matt Burroughs, and Dustin Jones; Blurton won the 2021 SCORE overall championship and Jones (no relation to Austin) possesses multiple Mint 400 wins, while Burrough is the Senior Vice President of Monster Energy and reigning SCORE Pro UTV FI champion. Burroughs finished sixth in class at San Felipe.

“I feel that we have a very good Monster Energy Side-by-Side Can-Am team with the individual racers, so hopefully we can get together with Dustin Jones and Phil Blurton and Burroughs, maybe do some more stuff with Monster Energy that’s always been a leader in this side of the world and in off-road racing,” Ampudia concluded.

“I’m just super excited about how we’ve been starting this season. Excited with our new partnership with KMC Wheels and hopefully we’re able to see everyone down in Baja desert having fun on the weekends and supporting us on race day.”

Interview on YouTube