Honda Competes In Off-Road Rebelle Rally With Not-Yet-Revealed 2023 Pilot TrailSport

And they’re off! 

The 2022 Rebelle Rally off-road event kicked off this week through the harsh desert terrain of California and Nevada as teams started on the eight-day navigation challenge. One of those teams was in Honda’s 2023 Honda Pilot TrailSport—before the three-row SUV’s official reveal later this year. The standard Pilot will also be unveiled then. 

The Pilot TrailSport is set to be the most rugged and off-road capable Honda yet (no Honda SUVs make our top off-roaders list), and was only modified in a special Diffused Sky Blue wrap for the Rally. Its all-terrain tires, steel skid plates, off-road suspension, AWD, spare full-size tire and three rows come standard. 

Honda’s team includes two Honda employees based out of Ohio: Liz Long, a test engineer, and Hillary Tate, a project administrator at Honda facilities.

The Rebelle Rally is an all-women event that challenges teams to traverse tough terrain without GPS, cellphones or other technology in slightly modified four-wheel drive or two- or all-wheel drive vehicles. Think paper maps, compasses, safety equipment and other navigation tools and skills being put to use all while piloting a vehicle through sand, over rocks and more to daily checkpoints.

Last year’s Honda team competed in a modified 2021 Honda HPD Ridgeline truck. The winner in the 4×4 category was the 2021 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xe, the first electrified winner in rally history. That year the all-electric Volkswagen ID.4 AWD competed for the first time, also.

Other notable teams for the seventh annual rally include Hyundai’s 2022 Santa Cruz pickup modified with off-road tires, skid plate and lift kit, the winning Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 4xe plug-in hybrid, a Ford Bronco Wildtrak with a HOSS 3.0 off-road package upgrade, a 2023 Nissan Pathfinder Rock Creek and a modified 2023 Kia Sportage X-Pro.

Live tracking shows the teams taking on the daily navigation challenge to hidden checkpoints that cover more than 1,500 miles throughout the course of the rally.