The 2025 Rebelle Rally: Team 205 Preps to take on the rally in the BMW X5
This morning when we were driving on this giant hill, there was an entire crowd of people watching and going, “Oh, the BMW shouldn’t do that. We You shouldn’t do that.” And then it real smooth. Just went right up that super steep hill. Didn’t bottom out. There was a collective gas. No GPS. no tech. Do you want to be off the grid for 8 days? And I said, “No.” Um, the Rebel Rally is the longest competitive off-road rally in the United States. Just so happens to be for women. A 2500 km off-road navigation rally. It is not necessarily about speed. It’s about precision driving and navigating off-road in the wilds of the west coast of America. Then I sat on it for a while, had a conversation with Rebecca, and she empowered me to think about it differently, think about the journey, um, and think about how it will feel once you cross the finish line and that new life skill learned in ways that I would never experience otherwise. And that got me hooked. I was intrigued. um she planted the seed and two weeks later I called her and said I was in. So the BMW X5 marks the 25th anniversary um of this car coming out of plant Spartanberg. Um we’re also celebrating 50 years of BMW North America and the Rebel Rally celebrates 10 years which also marks as long as BMW has been involved in the rally. So very excited to come back. Rebecca has been three time competitor BMW and once with Rolls-Royce. So overall, four times for the BMW group. And I’m a rookie navigator and the product manager for the BMW X5, which makes me the ultimate BMW Navigator. The Rebel Rally is much harder than people realize. There’s so many elements and it’s an extreme endurance competition. So, you have to think about it not on just your next move, but three, four, five moves down the board. The X5 is going to face everything from mountainous terrain to um deep soft sand and giant dunes um to two tracks through ranch country. Um it’s really an amazing uh landscape that we’ll we’re privileged to get to drive on um through all these public lands. She’s starting as a rookie. I know that what that holds as far as pressure. Uh but I also know what it holds for her. I’m excited for for what’s in it for her. But handing in my phone is terrifying. Um probably because I’m a mom and have two kids and don’t want to be necessarily disconnected. At the same time, I think we all sometimes ask for a break and want to be a little disconnected from the world. And why not do it during a time when you put yourself to the test? The BMW product team has really believed in the rally um in the Rebel Rally specifically and trying to make sure that we’ve had a car in the rally in 2023 with the X2, 2024 with the X3, and this year with the X5. And we’re certainly convinced that this is a journey that we can continue on. It’s something that we show that our cars are not only road ready, they’re track capable, but they’re also meant for some tremendous joy. Whether it’s off-roading or overlanding, your car can do it. And we’ve experienced this over and over again when we put the car on terrain, people around us with cars that are geared up to climb Mount Everest, and you hear the sight. You see this the this the sight of people wondering whether or not we’re capable, wondering or not if a BMW, a premium BMW can do it. And we do it and you can hear it. You can see it how excited people are and how surprised. And I’d like to continue to show people that they don’t need to be surprised. We’re capable. We can do it. It’s something that we won’t shy away from. And I’m so happy and excited that I’m part of a team that continues to pursue that.
The ability to go off the grid and traverse the American West isn’t learned overnight. For Rebecca Donaghe and Rebecca Dalski, their success at the 2025 Rebelle Rally in the BMW X5 came from months of long hours and hard work as they developed their skills in off-road driving and navigation. But their commitment and dedication led them to glory: first place in the Bone Stock category and second place in the X-Cross class. See how they prepared for their epic adventure in the capable BMW X5.
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