Michael Satterfield
The Honda Off-Road Racing Team took the Class 7 victory at the iconic Baja 1000 off-road race this past weekend. The impressive result was the fourth consecutive class win for the Ridgeline Off-Road Race Truck this season, the fifth victory for the Ridgeline in Baja, but the first in a “point-to-point” Baja 1000, running the length of the peninsula from Ensenada to La Paz.
Competing in Class 7 for unlimited V6-powered race trucks, the #709 Honda Ridgeline driving lineup of team owner Jeff Proctor, 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi, Richard Glaszczak, and Baja legend Steve Hengeveld – paired with navigator Evan Weller – faced a challenging course starting in the coastal city of Ensenada and finishing 1,226 miles south in La Paz. A total of 302 entries took part in this year’s 54th running of the event.
The Honda Ridgeline started off strong, with Proctor battling for the class lead with the #700 Ford of Dan Chamlee for the first 300 miles before the Honda team established an advantage they would hold – and increase – all the way to the finish. Starting driver Proctor handed off to Glaszcak at the 350-mile mark, then handed off to Rossi at the 632-mile pit stop as both began to build an ever-larger advantage for the Ridgeline. Rossi successfully completed his overnight stint to turn driving duties over to Hegeveld during the pit stop at Mile Marker 883, with the lead for the Ridgeline now more than 100 miles over Chamlee and the rest of the Class 7 field.
Hegeveld and the Ridgeline reached the finish with a time of 23 hours, four minutes, and 59 seconds to claim the Class 7 win by just over three hours. It marked the fourth consecutive win for the Honda Off-Road Ridgeline in 2021, following victories earlier this year at the San Felipe 250, Baja 500, and Vegas to Reno off-road races.
