October 17, 2025 (Needles, California)
- Weather at start line (Glamis, CA): Sunny and 72° with light winds
- Time Limit: 10 Hours
- Distance: 214 miles / 344 km
- Difficulty: 5 out of 5
- Weather at finish line (Needles, CA): Warm and sunny 83° F with 14 mph winds
Competitors at the 2025 Rebelle Rally woke up in the Glamis Sand Dunes on Day 8 Presented by Pennzoil after a Marathon night, not knowing the score and having to push hard for their final points.
The day began at Osborne Overlook at the Glamis Sand Dunes with an expansive view of the terrain. Teams started with a World Topo 1:60,000 map with very faint features and a list of heading and distance checkpoints.
The X route crossed through challenging dunes, and both routes ended by taking pavement to a nearby Green checkpoint and the start of an on-time enduro to Milpitas Wash near Blythe. After fueling at the Shell station, they proceeded north to a Green checkpoint in the heart of the Mojave Desert. The X route skirted the Turtle Mountains and Stepladder Wilderness with Mexican Hat peak as an incredible backdrop.
The regular route followed the Heritage Trail for a checkpoint zone in colorful red hills overlooking Lake Havasu. Both routes came back together with final choices between the X route of Monumental Pass or “Snaggletooth” and the National Old Trails Road to base camp. Teams battled for position, switching places in the standings so often that all bets were off. Only the top X-Cross® team was a lock (Team 200, Carey Lando and Andrea Shaffer in a 2025 Subaru Forester Hybrid Touring) while the 4×4 class competitors jockeyed for podium spots. No one wanted to leave points on the table, which means a very exciting conclusion to the 2025 Rebelle Rally.
At the end of the day, all that was left was the final finish line.
Friends, family, supporters, and sponsors arrived at base camp at the Rebelle Rally’s first public finish line, waiting to see 67 teams drive in on the final day. Competitors passed through the blue Rebelle Rally archway after achieving what very few people attempt: an 8-day motorsports adventure that tested their mettle from before sunup to past sundown.
Great Quotes From the Day
Team 183, Kaitlyn Cherniuk: “Navigating is actually a lot like what I do at work. You get a lot of different inputs, and you have to figure out how to make that one output. So I think it’s going to relate directly to what I do designing parts for Toyota.”
Team 210, Kendra Miller: “It’s a really fun game and I love playing it. I get to be surrounded by the coolest women I’ve ever met, which is super awesome. I love the desert and I like exploring, so it’s this perfect match.”
Team 145, Kris Vockler: “The rally blues are a thing. For a couple weeks after, I’m on edge and I’m sad and it’s really rough because this is so freaking amazing. This is like a year’s worth of living experience totally packed into one week. It helps remind me over the slow roll of life that I can overcome hard stuff all the time.”
Team 199, Kathryn Reinhardt: “You get in your rhythm and you get this really good groove. It’s sad to say it took us eight days to get into it, but we were just on a high. We knew it was the last day and we gave it everything we had. We didn’t leave any points out there. We wanted to go after everything because there was nothing to lose.”
Team 168, Eliza Coleman: “In this Rebelle Rally, my fifth, what I loved the most is when nobody else was around us. We were just rolling on our own, and it was incredible. I love the early morning, the sunrises. The landscape is so beautiful. And I love the community. When I come back and I see the faces that keep doing this, I wish I could spend more time with these people.”
Team 163, Brittony Marenco: “My heart rate is going super fast. I’m just happy to be here at the finish line. I did some lines in the dunes that earlier this year never thought I would do, so I would say I feel pretty badass.”
Spotlight: Pure Grit
Some competitors call the Rebelle Rally “Type 2 fun”; in other words, it’s challenging and uncomfortable in the moment, but becomes rewarding and enjoyable in retrospect. Team 210’s Emme Hall agrees: “Doing the Rebelle is not necessarily fun. What’s fun is having DONE the Rebelle.”
As teams crossed the finish line tonight, feelings of relief, joy, and pride were palpable as emotions saturated the air in the main tent at base camp. There’s also a fair amount of reflection.
“There is so much preparation and growth and pain; it’s maybe the most unflattering mirror because you can’t help but see the mistakes that you made or the choices that you made and what led you there,” says Micaela Rionda from Team 153. “But you can always get unstuck, and it is always an opportunity for growth. The Rebelle has really showed me to keep trying for excellence over perfectionism.”
Excellence takes work, practice, and time. Kristen Harbert, Team 159, just competed in her third Rebelle Rally. She partnered with Allison Sloat for 2024 and the two decided to team up again for 2025.
“We practiced every month for a weekend together,” Harbert says. “We’d go out and go camping, and pretend we were in the Rebelle. We’d bring our tents and everything, and we would spend two to three days out chasing checkpoints, whether we made them ourselves, friends made them, or they were from past Rebelles.”
Karen Wonnenberg and Renee West, Team 166, both race MX-5 Global cup cars and are on an endurance race team racing a vintage Miata. While they didn’t know each other very well in their first rally in 2022, now they consider each other best friends, and they push each other to grow through mutual activities like the Rebelle Rally.
“We keep talking about how important it is to keep doing hard things, especially as you get older,” Wonnenberg said. “I think you naturally seek comfort, and then when you seek comfort, you start dying. Doing the rally can feel so uncomfortable, and it stretches you. It stretches you so hard, and hardship makes you appreciate the nice things.”
In her second year, Cara McClellan (Team 120) said she is still learning about herself through this competition. It’s not always fun to go through the refining process through hard work, she says, but she believes it’s worth it.
“This pushes me outside of any comfort zone, and it’s applicable in so many areas of life,” McClellan says.
Day 8 Overall Standings
The results are in with the final tallies, and all will be celebrated tomorrow night at the Rebellation Gala along with the Rookie of the Year, top Pirelli Scorpion™ and Pennzoil Challenge winners, International Cup, and Team Spirit award.
4×4 Class Podium Winners
1st: Team 129, Nena Barlow and Teralin Petereit, 2025 Jeep Gladiator
2nd: Team 131, Karisa Haydon and Trista Smith, 2024 Ford Ranger Raptor
3rd: Team 128, Susan Pieper and Elise Young, 2025 INEOS Grenadier
X-Cross® Class Podium Winners
1st: Team 200, Carey Lando and Andrea Shaffer, 2025 Subaru Forester Hybrid Touring
2nd: Team 205, Rebecca Donaghe and Rebecca Dalski, 2024 BMW X5 40i xDrive
3rd: Team 210, Emme Hall and Kendra Miller, 2025 Subaru Crosstrek
The connection between Pennzoil–which has produced the world’s finest motor oils, lubricants, and fluids for small engines, passenger vehicles and racing for more than 100 years–and Rebelle Rally makes sense. Further, Pennzoil’s mantra is “Long May We Drive,” a great match for the off-road culture and spirit shared with the women of the Rebelle Rally.
For 2025, 29 teams participated in the Pennzoil Contingency Challenge for incredible prize packages like a VIP Trip to the 2026 Pennzoil 400, $250 Shell gas cards, and more.
Learn more about Pennzoil and its commitment to celebrating unique journeys and bolstering the daring spirit at Pennzoil.com.
Ways to Follow the 2025 Rebelle Rally
Fans can follow the Rebelle Rally live through the Rebelle Rally LIVE Webcast Presented by Toyota, starting Friday, October 10th. Daily broadcasts will be available via rebellerally.com, YouTube, and Facebook, featuring morning competition day previews, scoring updates, and evening recap shows. For real-time updates, live tracking, scores, daily recaps, team bios, and more, visit the rally’s official website and connect with the community on social media @rebellerally on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
