Rally Raid
Before becoming one of the quickest rally-raid racers on four wheels, AJ excelled at the fastest game on two feet. Find out more about the two-time Dakar Rally winner’s route to desert glory.
Back-to-back victories at the Dakar Rally have marked Austin ‘AJ’ Jones as one of the leading candidates to dominate desert racing for years to come. This weekend the 27-year-old will be looking for yet another victory, this time at the Sonora Rally in Mexico, a relatively local race for the Arizona native compared with the rest of the World Rally-Raid Championship calendar. Find out more about the newest recruit to the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA presented by BFGoodrich below.
He always had that need for speed
Dive into the backstory of any motorsports superstar, and you’ll likely find a picture of them sitting in a go-kart or gripping handlebars before they could even walk. Jones did things a little bit differently. Throughout his school years, he dedicated himself to various sports before excelling in one in particular. It may not have been motorsports, but it was a game that features a ball travelling at speeds in excess of 100mph (160kph).
“Growing up, I wasn’t racing, but I was playing lacrosse, baseball, soccer and other stuff. I actually went to college on a lacrosse scholarship to play at San Diego State University,” says Jones. “I really had to dedicate myself to lacrosse to make that happen, so there wasn’t time for racing back then.”
Joining the family firm
When Jones finished up in San Diego, he headed back to his native Arizona and started working on cars. Even as a kid, he confesses he always enjoyed “taking things apart to see how they worked”, so of course, he jumped at the chance to get his hands dirty in the workshop. Taking his new skills onto the racetrack was the next logical step.
“When I finished college, I moved back to Arizona and started working on my dad’s cars as a mechanic,” he says. “Then, in 2017, I rode with my dad as his co-driver for a whole Trophy Truck season. That was where I really cut my teeth and learned about trucks and racing in general.”
Diagnosing situations quickly and coming up with solutions is key at a race like the Dakar Rally
Time in the workshop pays off on the racetrack
Jones credits a large part of his success to the work he put into educating himself on the mechanics of the machine he is racing. Dakar stages can feature over 310 miles (500km) of rally-raid racing. While covering those distances, chances are that you’re going to have to get out of the car to fix some things during the two weeks the rally takes to cross the deserts of Saudi Arabia.
“I’ve got a really good idea of how everything works mechanically on the car, which helps my mindset so much. When I get into the car, I know exactly what everything on the vehicle is doing," explains Jones. "I talk with my engineers and mechanics daily at the Dakar to get as much information as I can. Diagnosing situations quickly and coming up with solutions is key at a race like the Dakar Rally.”
Maintaining momentum on a steep learning curve
Jones got his break at the Dakar behind the wheel of a T4 class (production models) Can-Am Maverick in 2020. One year later, he finished second in the T4 class, and the year after that, he won the category. Earlier this year, he debuted in the bigger and faster T3 class (prototype models), again in a Can-Am, and again he won. It’s an incredible feat considering AJ only got the keys to his new Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA presented by BFGoodrich machine just days before the start of the Dakar.
“Moving up in class to T3 was the natural progression, but it was also a lot to get my head around. I had no time to test the T3 before the last Dakar. The first time that I really got behind the wheel was at the shakedown just days prior to the Dakar," he reveals. "Let’s just say there was a steep learning curve. I had to climb because on each Dakar stage I was learning something new about the car. By the end of the first week, I finally had that ‘I’ve got it now!’ feeling.”
AJ's Dakar Rally results
His racing schedule is stacked
Jones's year started in Saudi Arabia at the Dakar, the first round of the World Rally-Raid Championship, which also visits the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Argentina and Morocco. Added to that are further North American races, such as the Baja 500 and the Red Bull Scramble Series. It all adds up it a whole lot of seat time for AJ in 2023.
“It’s a busy year, but I consider myself a professional at this sport, and I’m ready to do whatever it takes to get the best results," says Jones. "Thankfully, in off-road racing, all of the basics are the same. One difference between the races we have in North America, like the Baja 500, are that you have just one day to gun as fast as you can to the finish line. You just get that one shot. In rallies like the Dakar, there’s much more of a strategy game behind it, and I feel like that’s actually the best tool in my belt."
The scene is set for the Sonora Rally
The next appointment for Jones is the Sonora Rally, running from April 22-28. This five-stage contest measuring 1,300 miles (2,091km) is the third stop of the 2023 World Rally-Raid Championship campaign. Sonora is the second largest state in Mexico, and to its north, it borders Arizona, so this is definitely the closest thing AJ has to a home rally-raid.
“It’s going to be different, not having to get on a plane for 16 hours to go to a rally," says Jones. "Instead, it’ll be a five-hour drive from my house. The Sonora Rally takes place in an area of Mexico that I’ve been to before to do some training, but I’ve never raced there. It’s a new rally for me, but I always feel really good in Mexico because that’s where I learned how to race.”
Gustavo and me have done three Dakars together so far and finished as winners twice and as runners-up the other time. It’s a pretty decent record
AJ’s not on his own out there
After driving a full Trophy Truck season as co-driver for his dad, Jones has his own clear ideas about how to do the job. That’s why it’s no surprise that the understanding on the racetrack and back in the bivouac between AJ and his Brazilian co-driver Gustavo Gugelmin is spot on. The proof of this is right there in the results, three Dakar podiums on the spin.
“Gustavo is flying into Arizona from Brazil before the Sonora Rally. I’ll scoop him up, we’ll hang out for a couple of days, and then we’ll travel down to Mexico together. Gustavo and me have done three Dakars together so far and finished as winners twice and as runners-up the other time. It’s a pretty decent record," says Jones. "Our personalities match well, and we have a lot of respect for each other. Overall we’re two pretty chilled guys, and that helps create the relaxed attitude we both like in the car. I don’t want to be riding with anyone else.”
You have to know when to bring the heat
A big chunk of Jones’s time is spent racing a long way from home. During these trips, he puts in plenty of calls home to his fiancée. Hearing about what’s going on back home helps him to put the craziness of a day racing over desert dunes out of his mind. There’s also another secret ingredient that helps the Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team USA, presented by BFGoodrich driver, stay in touch with home while he’s away…
“A lot of people bring snacks over to the Dakar, but I like to make sure I bring plenty of hot sauce," he says. "At home, I use hot sauce on pretty much everything I eat. So when I’m over at the Dakar, I make sure I’ve got my favourite Mexican hot sauce with me and basically drown a lot of my food in it. It makes me feel right at home.”