The electric pickup was driven to victory by Rivian employees Lilly Macaruso and Alex Anderson.
A small yet significant piece of motorsports history was made recently, as a Rivian R1T became the first EV to ever win overall at the Rebelle Rally.
The winning team consisted of Lilly Macaruso and Alex Anderson, who successfully clinched victory at the 2023 event in a stock R1T that was nicknamed Limestone Legends from the colour of their all-electric pickup. They racked up a total of 1,395 points in the 4×4 Class, which bested second place finishers Nena Barlow and Teralin Petereit in a Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xe.
Macaruso is a Special Projects Engineer at Rivian, while Anderson is a Senior Mechanical Engineer at the California EV manufacturer. Both are nevertheless no strangers to the Rebelle Rally though, as the pair had taken fourth place and were crowned Rookies of the Year during last year’s event.
Now for those who might not be familiar with the Rebelle Rally, it is women-only 1,600-mile off-road competition where GPS navigation is forbidden. Instead, drivers and navigators have to rely on compasses, paper maps, and plotters to go through the course.
Said to be the longest off-road rally in the United States, the Rebelle Rally runs across more than 1,500 miles through the Nevada and California desert. There are two main competitive categories to the event: the 4×4 class where the Rivian competed in, and X-Cross where crossovers like the Ford Bronco Sport make up the entry list.
Rivian has been participating in the Rebelle Rally since 2020, and this year no fewer than 4 R1Ts were competing in this event. Three of them were backed by the manufacturer, while the fourth was a customer entry that marked the first time a privately-owned EV entered this event.
Said Rivian customer team comprised of Mandy Brezina and Alex Gilman, and finished an admirable 11th place out of a total of 55 entries in the 4×4 class this year. The other Rivian-backed teams meanwhile ended the rally in 20th and 30th place respectively.
