Taylor Pawley has racked up some serious hardware as a navigator in the Rebelle Rally over the years, including a second-place overall in 2020 and first-place overall in 2019 with her driver for the upcoming 2025 event, Rachelle Croft. But co-drivers might be the most unsung people in motorsport—toiling for hours behind the scenes to hone the roadbook, memorizing countless topographical and cartographic details of the rally route, cataloging waypoints, fighting back motion sickness, and gritting teeth as they’re subject to the often less-than-gentle piloting of their drivers. Co-drivers can be just as competitive as their left-side counterparts, and certainly no less committed to the task and the mission (Taylor has the tattoo to prove it).
Taylor Pawley and Rachelle Croft with the 2025 Toyota 4Runner Trailhunter.
This October, Taylor returns to the Rebelle Rally after a few years off, and she’ll be in the passenger seat next to Rachelle Croft once more. Backed by Toyota as a factory effort (the first time the company has ever supported an outside team), the duo will be wheeling a 2025 Toyota 4Runner as Team Start Somewhere in the tenth running of the Rebelle. Rally drivers often collect all the glory, but they wouldn’t be going anywhere without a stalwart navigator at their side, so we chatted with Taylor about her experience as a co-driver, honing her instincts, what makes the Rebelle a special event, and what really annoys her about Rachelle.
Taylor’s got the Rebelle ink to go with the podium finishes.
What do you look forward to most about the Rebelle Rally?
I would say the people who are part of the rally—the organizers, volunteers, and the other competitors. An event like this is so self-selecting with who shows up and who participates that you already end up with the group that is just the coolest of all the cool people.
They are adventurous, they’re willing to take chances, and they’re willing to do something outrageous and exciting. You’re already kind of prepared to be in a group of like-minded people that are all just looking to have a great time and support each other—the environment of the Rally is incredible. I’d say for me, the thing I look forward to the most is the community.
Taylor and Rachelle won the whole thing in 2019.
What do you think is the top strength of your driver for this year’s Rebelle?
I would say Rachelle [Croft] is quietly confident—she knows what she’s good at. She also knows what she wants to improve, and she is definitely always focused on communicating. But at the same time, she just kind of puts her head down and gets stuff done. And in an event like this, where each person has a very defined role, they have to really own their part of it. It’s always been so easy for us to do this together because we own our roles, and we have our things that we’re confident about, and when we need help, we ask for it. So, yeah, I’d say it’s her confidence.
Here’s a curveball for you—which quality about Rachelle do you find the most annoying in the context of the Rebelle?
That’s a tough one, because I really enjoy my time with her. Since I learned how to navigate from Rachelle, I always expect her to be as good a navigator as I am, but I do forget that she sits behind the wheel, and I stare at the map the whole time.
When she can’t read my mind about what I’m trying to explain to her, I find that very annoying. I’m like, ‘I’m pointing out the window!’ And she’s like, ‘I can’t see where you’re pointing! You have to tell me right or left!’ So, I think the thing that I find the most annoying about her is that she cannot always read my mind and interpret exactly what I’m trying to explain to her from a navigation perspective.
So she’s not receiving your telepathy?
Exactly! [laughs]
The Rebelle often forges lifelong friendships and partnerships. If you had to be stuck Gilligan’s Island-style on a desert island with someone, would Richelle be in your top five?
Rachelle would 100 percent be in my top five. She is incredibly competent, super easy to get along with, and she’s a problem solver.
Often, what makes a lot of really successful rally drivers is that they tend to have instincts for the event, for the competition, and for the driving and the navigation. How do you shape those instincts into a real, tangible skill? What’s the process for that?
I think, as the navigator, it comes down to repetition. It is doing my tasks over and over and being really comfortable with those tasks. And I would probably imagine so for Rachelle—it’s very similar for the driver. You get to a point where it’s instinctual, but that doesn’t come without some time behind the wheel or some time in front of the map. It’s repetition that really reinforces those instincts.
The 2025 Toyota 4Runner Trailhunter.
How do you see the Rebelle going for you this year?
This is our third rally together and my fifth Rebelle. We know this rally well. We know what we need to do to be really good and really confident at the Rebelle. And we put in some good practice this year to bring all those skills back after a few years off. We’re feeling excited!
The 10th running of the Rebelle Rally takes place October 8-18, 2025, across the deserts and mountains of California and Nevada.
Read More: Toyota Taps Rachelle Croft and Taylor Pawley to Lead Rebelle Effort
Images courtesy of: Rachelle Croft, Taylor Pawley, XOverland
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