By winning the Sonora Rally’s Dakar Dreams challenge, Ryan Nariño had $10,000 of his 2027 Dakar Rally entry fees paid off by the Sonora organizers. On Tuesday, he proved their coverage wasn’t in vain as he received his acceptance letter from the ASO.

“So stoked to be selected to race the 2027 Dakar Rally,” said Nariño. “I am still waiting to confirm if I will be in the Original by Motul category, one thing is for sure that I will be one of the youngest Americans at the start line.

“Now to continue to put in the work and get to that start line 100% ready. Thank you to everyone that supports me!”

Nariño finished fifth overall at the Sonora Rally in March, over three hours ahead of his fellow Dakar Dreams entrants. The challenge offers a similar program to the Road to Dakar in which the race covers $10K of the winner’s registration fee, but it doesn’t necessarily guarantee them a spot in Dakar.

To better his chances, Nariño signed up for the Desafío Ruta 40 in May. It was technically his second time running a World Rally-Raid Championship event after competing in the 2023 Sonora Rally (albeit in National Enduro, a non-FIM category).

The DR 40 proved to be a a challenging one. It began on a relatively smooth note save for a 15-kilometer boulder section that was so rocky, he ended up being passed by a quad. Perhaps the most frightening experience was when he got caught by Ultimate cars because “when the first truck passed, the dust stayed around for a while and you couldn’t see anything. And then when the next one passes, it’s worse and so on and so forth.”

Stage 2 wasn’t much easier in the silt, which he called “the worst in my life” and forced him to ride on the side of the course because he couldn’t keep the front end straight. A rock also punctured his rear tire at KM 136, costing him an hour as he waited to get a new inner tube, while the bib mousse melted 70 kilometers into the liaison.

While the tires and mousses were changed for Stage 3, it was a hellish day that began with his airbag being set off in the fesh fesh and on a G-out in the dunes. The first half was “fun” before he miscalculated the fuel range and ran out. He bought what was believed to be a can of fuel from a rancher but turned out to be water, causing the bike to shut off. A local towed him two kilometers before backing off, after which a passing SSV offered him ten liters of fuel to complete the stage.

His last two days were plagued by food poisoning, joking that he “stopped 15 times to shit on the special”. Despite everything, he reached the finish 32nd in Rally2.

With his Dakar ticket punched, Nariño will finally follow in the footsteps of his father Antonio, who did the 2015 race solo as well.

Featured image credit: Justin W. Coffey / WESTx1000