Sertões Rally 2023: Under the motto: ‘Our stage is Brazil’

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The largest rally in the Americas revealed on Thursday night the script for its 31st edition, scheduled for 11-19 August.

After holding the world’s largest rally in 2022, from South to North of Brazil, a historic competition that celebrated the 30th anniversary of the race, the 2023 edition returns to its origins. The main novelty is the more compact format, in bonds, with shorter displacements to privilege teams, competitors and the competition. It promises to be the most intense, as the route chosen by the technical team led by Edgar Fabre and Du Sachs will be “the most demanding and challenging of all.” In total, it will be 3,800 km, of which 2,080 km will be timed.
The backdrop of the Sertões is Brazil. Every year the organization brings an unprecedented script, honouring its mission of revealing a Brazil that few Brazilians know. By 2023, the competition will be concentrated in five cities: Petrolina/PE, Xique Xique/BA, Crato/CE, Sobral/CE and Cruz/CE. The pernambucan Petrolina, whose name honors D. Pedro II and which today is also known for the cultivation of the grapes of the Vale do Rio São Francisco, premieres as the stage of the launch. You will receive the prologue; the first two stages (in the form of a bond where competitors leave and arrive in the same city), as well as the start of the Marathon, towards the Bayana Xique-Xique; and the arrival of the second leg – the fourth stage. Then the competitors start the fifth stage, towards Crato, in Ceará, which will also receive the caravan for the first time.
From there, the destination will be Sobral/CE, which integrates the roadmap for the third time. No penúltimo dia de rally, segue em direção ao litoral, com a chegada em Cruz, cidade conhecida pelas dunas e pelas belas praias. The most famous of them, by the way, will mark the end point of the adventure: the village of Preá, which after lending its beautiful appearance and strong winds to the Sertões Kitesurf, this time will welcome men and machines to meet the champions of the 2023 edition. A oitava etapa será mais uma em formato de laço e promete testar ao máximo os competidores antes da festa da chegada.
Testing, by the way, is the verb that best summarizes what is being prepared for Sertões BRB 2023. Climb and descent from the mountains; a lot of navigation, trial, sand, stones and specials with few straight lines and few points of overpass will be the menu of a ‘thin’ roadmap with 3,800 km, of which 2,080 km timed.
And as the history of the Sertões is made of grandiose and superlative numbers, the race this year promises a record: that of the largest number of UTVs enrolled in a cross-country rally on the planet. Marca que por enquanto é do Dakar, com 97 na edição 2022. Here, the 2021 edition recorded 90, and everything moves to an even greater grid.

The Treasures

The Rio San Francisco will once again show its imposition, from other angles. O Raso da Catarina (BA), região de solos arenosos, vegetação rasteira e cânions, desta vez será percorrido em sentido inverso ao habitual – foi nele que Virgulino Ferreira, o Lampião, mais famoso dos cangaceiros, se escondeu das volantes que o procuravam. E o “grand finale” com a chegada na Praia do Preá, no Município de Cruz (CE), uma das praias mais extensas do litoral cearense, com suas dunas formadas pelo clima tropical da região e que faz divisa com a APA (área de proteção ambiental) de Jericoacoara.

Social Action – SAS – Health and Joy in the Sertões

No ano em que completa uma década de atuação, a startup social SAS Brasil (sigla de Saúde e Alegria no Sertões) segue com sua missão de transformar o acesso à saúde especializada no Brasil. During the Sertões 2023 the traveling caravan of SAS Brazil embarks on the rally route with the expectation of carrying out more than 8,000 visits along the four scheduled stops for the Rally.
Petrolina, Xique-Xique e Crato receberão a caravana com profissionais e a estrutura de atendimento, com foco na dermatologia. In Preá, where the project has one of its foundations, chronic non-communicable diseases (such as diabetes, hypertension and obesity) and maternal-child care will also be included.
The initiative will bring the Mobile Health Units, adapted wheels with medical offices and cutting-edge technology, where health professionals, students and professionals from other areas will carry out the reception, care, examinations and procedures in various specialties, such as dermatology and ophthalmopediatrics

Much more than a rally

The Sertões is much more than the largest rally in the Americas, an iconic, genuinely Brazilian rally. It connects Brazil. It moves the economy of the small towns where it passes. The caravan of the Sertões has about 2,000 people who activate the hotel industry, restaurants, gas stations, markets; It promotes the cuisine and spices of the regions through which it passes, through the competition Sabores do Sertóns, engaging and motivating restaurants to participate;
Offers training for local small entrepreneurs in partnership with Sebrae;
Engage the schools of the public network through the Redação e Arte = Sertões Cultural Contest. It also promotes Brazil through tourist expeditions, which take place all year round.

The Sertons in PE

Pernambuco receberá os competidores do Sertões pela oitava vez – o mesmo vale para Petrolina, presente no roteiro desde a primeira edição, em 1993. The city, by the way, becomes the ninth in 31 years of the event to host a launch (São Paulo, Goiânia, Campos do Jordão, São Luís, Tibau do Sul, Campo Grande, Mogi-Guaçu and Foz do Iguaçu were the others).

What they said: 

Edgar Fabre, technical director: "Du Sachs and I did the biggest rally in the world last year, 14 days of riding, but we had nothing like what we faced to do this 2023 edition. We can guarantee: it's not the biggest, but it's certainly the best, in terms of difficulty, technique, and beauty. Let the competitors get ready! When you think you are in control, you may have a shock of reality. The Sertões is about challenges, overcoming. And that rally maxim: the worse the better. We will live up to this. But the reward will come in the end.

Joaquim Monteiro, CEO of Sertões: "Today is a very special day for us. After holding the World's Largest Rally in 2022, naturally there is an expectation of what will come in 2023. Our focus this year is to have a more economical race for teams, with looped sections, where the competitors start and return to the same city, which implies savings for the support, with smaller displacements. We are working to keep the title of "World's Largest Rally" in UTV entries and are quite confident in this milestone. Regarding the brand, the Sertões has expanded its family, and besides the rally, which is our locomotive, our range of competitions includes the Sertões MTB and the Sertões Kitesurf. And this year we set up the Sertões Institute, which comes to help develop our sport even more."

As etapas
11/8 – Prólogo: Petrolina (PE)

12/8 – Primeira etapa: Petrolina / Petrolina
DI: 18 km / SS: 174 km / DF: 54 km – Total: 246 km

13/8 – Segunda etapa: Petrolina / Petrolina (Raso da Catarina)
DI: 185 km / SS: 372 km / DF: 114 – Total: 671 km

14/8 – Terceira etapa: Petrolina / Xique-Xique (BA) (Maratona)
DI: 74 km / SS: 404 km / DF: 31 km – Total: 509 km

15/8 – Quarta etapa: Xique-Xique / Petrolina (Maratona)
DI: 0 km / SS: 324 km / DF: 290 km – Total: 613 km

16/8 – Quinta etapa: Petrolina / Crato (CE)
DI: 66 km / SS: 213 km / DF: 215 km – Total: 494 km

17/8 – Sexta etapa: Crato / Sobral
DI: 154 km / SS: 207 km / DF: 312 km – Total: 673 km

18/8 – Sétima etapa: Sobral / Cruz
DI: 83 km / SS: 226 km / DF: 49 km – Total: 357 km

19/8 – Oitava etapa: Cruz / Cruz (Preá)
DI: 51 km / SS: 160 km / DF: 26 km – Total: 237 km

* DI: deslocamento inicial/ SS: especial cronometrada / DF: deslocamento final

Distância total: 3800 km
Especiais: 2080 km

Source Rally dos Sertões
Automatic translation from the original Portuguese version - Some errors could be found

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