2025 Rebelle Rally Field Update: DAY 4 Presented by Pirelli
October 13, 2025 (Ridgecrest, California)
- Weather at start line (Blair Junction, NV): cold (40° F and windy)
- Time limit: 10 Hours
- Distance: 235 miles / 378 km
- Difficulty: 3-4 out of 5
- Weather at finish line (Ridgecrest, CA): cloudy and 67° F, with 17 mph winds
Monday’s Day 4 Presented by Pirelli started with a climb and descent of Emigrant Pass with views of the majestic White Mountains. Dropping into Fish Lake Valley, competitors headed to the northern end of Death Valley. Teams navigated through two all-time favorite sections in Rebelle history, and definitely the most breathtaking. Those in the 4×4 class had the choice between climbing up into Papoose Flats and descending Merzouka Canyon on the X route or hugging the east side of the Owens Valley as they headed toward Reward Mine and Owens Lake.
Both routes included stunning views of Mt. Whitney, the highest peak in the lower 48 states. After a shorter pavement transit, teams turned onto the LA Aqueduct for an on time enduro affectionately thought of as Rebelle’s Pike’s Peak. On this route, the trail hugs the edge of the southern end of the Sierra Mountains. Just before reaching base camp at the end of the day, teams continued with a Dakar-style roadbook before settling at Dirt Diggers Base Camp south of Ridgecrest, California.
Today’s course was both beauty and beast, with incredible views intersected by a particularly gnarly on route on time enduro and dizzying climbs. Team 150 (Shelby Hall and Rori Lewis) are currently in 8th place and have been steadily climbing. To them, Day 4 was right in their wheelhouse.
“We navigated Papoose Flat in 2022, and it’s been my favorite Rebelle site because it requires big climbs and really steep, rocky descents,” Hall said. “The terrain is really tight and woodsy with giant rocks; it’s 4Lo the whole time. But then you come out into this big valley and you see all of the Sierras. It was definitely fun, technical driving.”
Great Quotes From the Day
- Team 201, Jill Ciminillo: “I felt more confident and more prepared in my 4th year. Lola knows her truck really well and that gives me confidence as a navigator. Our Pirelli Scorpion™ XTM ATs make a big difference for us in our 2007 Honda Ridgeline because they’re so grippy. They’re 10-ply, which means that even if we get a little bit of a nick on the sidewall, you’re not likely to tear a hole in your tire.”
- Team 131, Trista Smith: “We were a little afraid that this year would feel more stressful and more competitive. So we really started the rally wanting to not have anything like that. We know it’s going to feel stressful and it’s going to feel like it’s really important for us to do well, but we don’t necessarily work well under those situations. So we just wanted to come in and be scrappy and just do the best we could.”
- Team 200, Carey Lando: “As a team, we liked to laugh a lot, so when the day is going really rough having fun and being silly breaks the tension and helps us be focused and work better together.”
- Team 173, Julia Bigwood: “It was a little hairy. We took the X-route up to the mountains. Usually they say heading and distance never lie and that’s true until you’re taking a windy road over the mountain and distance really lies a lot. But you figure it out and then you get through it. We skipped some of our points today just because we didn’t want to get a wide miss, but we were saying it’d be so nice if we could just get points for even just doing the X-route. We got one of them, but skipped the other two.”
- Team 157, Sydnee Ewers: “During the enduro I was navigating so I was looking up and down, and once I got to the top I thought it was the most beautiful thing in the world. I look over at my mom and I tell her to not look to her left, because her knuckles are as white as this table that we’re sitting at right now. It was so pretty, but it was scary.”
Spotlight: Teamwork
The Rebelle Rally is a team sport, and both members of each team contribute to every aspect of competition. While one might be the full-time driver and the other the navigator, if both teammates aren’t working together, it shows up in the results.
Today’s enduro included obstacles along a well-maintained aquaduct, continuing with wild cliffs and drop-offs. Following that was a route through a canyon with both large, wide sections and narrower sections. It’s a tougher navigation challenge through the canyon, and several teams took wrong turns, which affected their timing.
“There were so many sharp turns,” said Michelle Figueroa from Team 158. “You’re going along a mountain and coming down there are concrete medians everywhere. You have to be on top of what’s going on and making sure you’re getting your points correctly. One wrong turn, which happened to us, can take you out. We just slowed down, and when we stopped we started laughing that we made it to the end.”
This extreme outdoor endurance event combined with Mother Nature’s whims this week created more challenges than usual. With rain in the forecast, tomorrow could be even more interesting. Teams will be battling inclement weather, physical and mental fatigue, and rigorous driving that will push them to their limits.
“We have full-on rain gear; we’re ready,” said Team 131’s Karisa Haydon. “We’re used to the rain, being from Washington. So maybe we will suffer through it or have the ability to suffer through it better than other teams and possibly take it as an advantage.”
Day 4 Results
In the 4×4 class, scores vacillated wildly, then tightened up near the end of the day. Nena Barlow and Teralin Petereit (Team 129) achieved an impressive 96 percent of their points in a 2025 Jeep Gladiator for first place. Team 128 (Susan Pieper and Elise Young) had to change a tire on their 2025 Warner INEOS Grenadier in the first half of the day, doing so quickly and efficiently. By the end of Day 4, they held onto second place with 95 percent. Team 122 (Tobi Hlavnicka and Caralina Carlson) are right behind them at 93 percent in their 2023 Ford Bronco Raptor.
The Ford Performance teams are dominating at this stage, holding five out of the top ten places. Two Jeeps, an Ineos, and two Toyotas round out the top ten.
Subaru-driving teams continue to rise to the top of the X-Cross® class. Last year’s champions Carey Lando and Andrea Shaffer (Team 200) remain in first place in their 2025 Subaru Forester Hybrid Touring. Kathleen Gardner and Jordan Keeth (Team 211) in a 2021 Subaru Crosstrek swapped places with Emme Hall and Kendra Miller (Team 210) in their 2025 Subaru Crosstrek, placing second and third, respectively.
Tires play a big role at the Rebelle Rally in keeping the teams rolling safely and efficiently. Since becoming an official partner four years ago, Pirelli has supported the rally not only as a Gold Partner but also through programs like the Pirelli Scorpion™ Tire Challenge. Teams that opt to run Pirelli Scorpion™ tires are entered into a contingency program that rewards the highest-scoring teams within the challenge. This year, a record 24 teams are participating, all equipped with the Pirelli Scorpion™ All-Terrain Plus or new XTM AT tires.
The Rally Director Emily Miller and Course Director Jimmy Lewis have both been using the XTM AT tires for over a year and run them on their course vehicles.
“These tires are durable and extremely predictable and precise off-road, yet have exceptional road handling capabilities for an aggressive all-terrain,” noted Miller.
Learn more about Pirelli and its commitment to quality, technology, and innovation at pirelli.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.
