Baja 1000 underway

Pre-running, planning and all preparations are completed as 240 official entries from 34 U.S. States and 17 countries took the green flag Thursday for the 47th annual Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 desert race.

This year's legendary desert classic, the final event of the 2014 SCORE World Desert Championship, is being held in Mexico on a brutally-rugged race-record 1,275-mile SCORE signature desert race course.

Motorcycles and ATVs began their journey at 6 a.m. Thursday and after a break of five and one-half hours, the cars and trucks started receiving the green flag at 12:30 p.m. the field includes 104 racers who have combined for 318 class wins in the Granddaddy of All Desert Races.

RACER Editor David Malsher is embedded with the Toyota TRD Pro Tundra (pictured), which is off to a strong start with drivers Jamie Bestwick and Andy Bell, leading the class despite an early delay for a punctured tire. Follow the Tundra's progress through the race on Twitter (@DavidMalsher, #TRDpro).

With the rugged course traveling on both sides of the peninsula, the world's most famous desert race will be a peninsula run, starting in Ensenada, Baja California Norte and finishing in La Paz, Baja California Sur. With 10 checkpoints along the way, it is the longest course in race history for the race when it starts in Ensenada and finishes in La Paz. This is the 40th time the iconic race has started in Ensenada and 20th time it will finish in La Paz.

While the fastest vehicles in the elapsed-time race are expected to complete the course in approximately 24 hours, the time limit to become an official finisher in the prestigious race is 49 hours.

The Tecate SCORE Baja 1000 will be televised in the USA and Canada as a one-hour special on the CBS Sports Network on Sunday, Dec. 28, 9 p.m. ET.