Season 51 of the SCORE Worldwide World Desert Championship will start with the thirty-seventh San Felipe 250. Luke McMillin is looking for his third straight win for 4-Wheelers whereas Ciaran Naran hopes to go back-to-back for Moto.
Qualifying for Trophy Truck classes will happen on Thursday, 21 March, adopted by race day on Saturday, 23 March.
The Course
As is custom, the race will start and finish in San Felipe. At 285.59 miles for the Professional lessons (284.86 miles for Sportsman), the course is longer than in 2023.
At RM 90, the bikes and quads will go take a bypass that splits them off from the 4-Wheelers. Sportsman classes may even be a part of them on this route at RM 162, and each will finally merge again on target at RM 178. The bodily checkpoint awaits simply previous the 200-mile mark.
The bikes break up off once more at common RM 270, taking them additional south close to El Carrizo and a run north alongside Freeway 5 earlier than rejoining at RM 278. After all, the precise deviation is for much longer than the 2 factors marked, stretching roughly eighty miles.
After the Mini Summit was dropped on the final minute from the 2023 version, to the chagrin of these like UTV general winner Rodrigo Ampudia, these hoping for a restoration in 2024 will certainly be upset about its exclusion from the ultimate route. Nonetheless, it figures to be a quick course due to its runs by way of two lakebeds, although this might additionally cancel out as many seen Huatamote Wash’s notably rocky state whereas pre-running.
Though longer than the 2023 format, racers may have one fewer hour to finish it at 13.
The Grid
Bryce Menzies and McMillin renew their rivalry for an additional yr in Trophy Truck. Because the reigning SCORE TT champion, the previous has switched to a purple #1 numberplate.
Two weeks after profitable the Mint 400, Adam Householder would be the first truck to start out qualifying on Thursday. Tim Herbst, who begins second, will hope to show his luck round after a disappointing finish to his Mint, as will others like Dan Myers and Rob MacCachren. Toby Worth and Paul Weel of Workforce Australia, who topped each qualifying classes in 2023, will attempt to proceed their momentum there whereas discovering extra luck within the races themselves as they’ve solely completed two of six races since their formation.
For the primary time in group historical past, McMillin Racing may have all three family members on one group as Luke leads the #83 Trophy Truck whereas his brother Dan groups up with their cousin Andy within the #23. Andy usually raced on his personal earlier than promoting his group’s belongings to Polaris Manufacturing facility Racing and Workforce Australia, and teamed up with Menzies and Tavo Vildósola—who returns to his #21 TT for San Felipe—to win the 2023 Baja 1000. Monster Power has joined the group and can sponsor Luke’s truck whereas the #23 options The Beast Unleashed exhausting tea model.
Polaris Manufacturing facility Racing’s quest for a second straight Professional UTV Open title in as a few years begins with a barely tweaked lineup: whereas champion Brock Heger and Cayden MacCachren return, Max Eddy Jr. has been promoted from being group boss Craig Scanlon‘s navigator to full-time driver. Scanlon, the 2023 San Felipe class winner, can be entered.
From Polaris’ rival Can-Am, Greatest In The Desert star Vito Ranuio will enter his first SCORE race in Professional UTV Open. Can-Am colleague Ampudia shouldn’t be aiming to repeat as the best ending UTV as he as an alternative joins his brothers Alan and Aaron Ampudia within the #10 Trophy Truck.
Juan Carlos Salvatierra will attempt to defend his Professional Moto Limitless title however faces stiffer competitors than in 2023 as new names transfer up from different lessons. Fernando Beltran is considered one of them, arriving after profitable the Professional Moto Restricted championship.
Naran, the 2023 Professional Moto Limitless runner-up contemporary off rally raiding in Tunisia, has joined forces with Baja powerhouse SLR Honda, the place he’ll share the #7X bike with Rider of Document Justin Morgan and Tyler Lynn.
Baja 1000 Professional Moto 50 victor Giovanni Spinali is not going to be racing however has a studded lineup for his HERO Racing group as they enter Limitless. Arturo Salas Jr. will lead the #11X Honda alongside Carter Klein, who gained the 1000 general as Salvatierra’s team-mate. Klein switches to Honda concurrently his brother and Dakar Rally competitor Mason, now a manufacturing facility rider for Honda’s Brazilian division.
San Felipe will see the débuts of the Professional Moto Journey and Professional Baja-e Moto bike classes. The latter, one other try by SCORE to combine electrical autos however the first for bikes, will probably be represented by Christian Klein on his Zero bike with Branson Fustes and Eric Rauser as team-mates.
Professional Moto Journey is reserved for rally raid bikes reminiscent of those who compete on the Dakar Rally. World Rally-Raid Championship producer Kove Moto is spearheading the class’s growth by providing bonuses for the primary 5 riders who join the category at San Felipe and prize cash for its podium finishers no matter marque. Reigning Baja 500 Sportsman Moto winner Javier Rubio, Dustin Davis, and Mexican 1000 class victor Scott Purcell are the primary to toss their hats into the ring with their Kove 450 Rally bikes.
