W2RC – Al-Attiyah/Boulanger earn Dacia first victory at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge; Akeel/Duplé claim historic Challenger win

Nasser Al-Attiyah and Edouard Boulanger stayed away from hassle on a dramatic remaining day of the thirty fourth Abu Dhabi Desert Problem to safe a vital 2min 28sec victory of their bid to defend their FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) titles.

On a final stage the place a number of of his closest rivals within the high 10 hit hassle, Al-Attiyah claimed the stage win in his Dacia Sandrider to additionally win the Final class. He was in a position to fend off the problem from the Toyota Gazoo Racing crews of Lucas Moraes/Armand Monleón and Seth Quintero/Dennis Zenz to earn his fifth victory on the gruelling desert occasion to observe earlier successes in 2008, 2016, 2021 and 2024. The end result marked Boulanger’s third triumph after his win with Al-Attiyah final yr and his maiden victory with Stéphane Peterhansel in 2022.

Second place for Moraes and third general for Quintero enabled Toyota Gazoo Racing to stay firmly on observe to retain the W2RC Producers’ title after Yazeed Al-Rajhi’s victory on the Dakar Rally. 

The ultimate begin record featured 48 automobiles within the FIA part, with 21 competing within the Final class, 14 in Challenger and 13 in SSV. Of these, 32 have been registered for factors within the W2RC. Lithuanian Rokas Baciuška was a non-starter within the Overdrive Racing workforce, whereas Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings have been changed within the Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) line-up by Man Botterill and Dennis Murphy. The replacements weren’t registered for the W2RC.

Younger Eryk Goczal earned a memorable maiden win on the penultimate stage on his first occasion with Overdrive Racing within the Energylandia Rally Group Toyota. However he and navigator Oriol Mena suffered a hearth of their Toyota after 37km of stage 5 and misplaced out on a possible fourth general. That misfortune lifted team-mates Juan Cruz Yacopini and Dani Oliveras into that place. 

The American duo of Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch introduced the sole-surviving Ford M-Sport Raptor to the end in fifth and the alternative Botterill claimed sixth for TGR. 

Yazeed Al-Rajhi and his German navigator Timo Gottschalk got here into the occasion as leaders of the W2RC however suffered engine overheating points after 13km of the ultimate stage. They now maintain second within the championship standings.

Technical points additionally price João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro additional time after a damaged driveshaft on the Prologue and a puncture. However the Portuguese duo survived to take sixth place of their diesel-engined Mini JCW Rally.

Al-Attiyah topped the occasions on the Prologue on the Jebel Hafit Desert Park, close to the beginning in Al-Ain, and picked up the three bonus factors. Moraes and Dacia’s Sébastien Loeb adopted the Qatari with the second and third quickest occasions. 

Moraes then hit the entrance on the opening stage between Al-Ain and the bivouac camp at Mzeer’ah and headed into the second loop stage with a lead of 1min 01sec over Loeb. Marek Goczal failed to complete the particular in his Overdrive Racing Toyota and Al-Attiyah picked up a puncture.

Loeb gained stage two from Al-Attiyah and moved forward of Moraes into the lead with Quintero and Guillaume De Mévius holding fourth and fifth. TGR’s Saood Variawa suffered gearbox points after 138km and Martin Prokop’s probability of incomes a fifth podium end have been dented when he suffered technical issues. Al-Attiyah and Yacopini have been handed one-minute time penalties for false begins. 

Days three and 4 constituted a brand new Marathon stage between Mzeer’ah and the distant Al-Qoua camp. Al-Attiyah gained the opening wind-interrupted part of 237.31km by slightly below 4 minutes from Quintero to grab the general lead from Moraes and Loeb, after the latter picked up a two-minute rushing penalty. Notional occasions have been awarded to the rest of the sphere after sturdy winds prevented motion from persevering with on security grounds. 

The Ford M-Sport Group withdrew Mattias Ekström for medical causes. The Swede had been feeling unwell for the reason that begin and his situations worsened because the occasion progressed. 

Eryk Goczal then turned one of many youngest ever winners of a stage in Abu Dhabi when he beat Moraes by 2min 29sec to say the quickest time over the 299.61km of stage 4. That success lifted the Pole into fourth within the basic classification behind Al-Attiyah, Moraes and Quintero. It was a bitterly disappointing birthday for Loeb, nevertheless: he missed a waypoint by lower than 10 metres and rolled his Dacia out of the occasion.

A mere 41 seconds separated Moraes from Al-Attiyah earlier than the ultimate stage between Mzeer’ah and the end on Hudayriyat Island in Abu Dhabi. However the Qatari held on to seal his fifth victory as Al-Rajhi, Goczal and De Mévius all hit hassle. The latter managed to complete however dropped to twenty ninth general behind Al-Rajhi.

Aliyyah Koloc’s Buggyra ZM Racing Pink-Lined Revo was sidelined after a dune crash hospitalised the driving force for checks on stage 4.

Marek Goczal teamed up with Maciej Marton within the second of the Energylandia Rally Group Toyotas however incurred a most time penalty on the primary stage. The Pole then suffered a again compression harm over a minimize dune shortly after the beginning of stage three and was pressured to retire on medical grounds. 

Historical past-making Akeel and Duplé safe hard-earned Challenger victory 

Saudi Arabia’s Dania Akeel turned the primary girl for the reason that launch of the W2RC in 2022 to win a class outright and he or she additionally completed eighth general. Akeel teamed up with French navigator Stéphane Duplé to see off a fierce problem from the younger Spaniard Pau Navarro and his navigator Jan Rosa Vinas within the Challenger class together with her BBR Motorsport Taurus T3 Max.

Saudi rival Yasir Seaidan gained the final stage however delays earlier within the week had price him and Michael Metge dearly. They recovered strongly to complete third of the W2RC crews behind the Brazilian duo of Marcos Baumgart and Kleber Cincea. The end result gave BBR Motorsport a clear sweep of the highest 4 locations.

Poland’s Adam Kus and his Ukrainian navigator Dmytro Tsyro completed fourth of the registered crews with Spaniard Eduardo Pons coming dwelling in fifth with Jaume Betriu. Emirati Khalid Al-Jafla was sixth and the Argentinian duo of Nicolas Cavigliasso and Valentina Pertegarini – who had gained the class on the opening spherical – have been sixth after a primary stage accident and retain the class lead after two rounds.

Qatar’s Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah had been the quickest of a Taurus-dominated Challenger class on the Prologue. He beat Akeel by 13 seconds and Seaidan by 16. 

Cavigliasso blotted his copybook on the opening stage with an accident after 83km, though the automotive was repairable and so they have been in a position to proceed.

Akeel topped the occasions on the opener from Seaidan and Navarro with Puck Klaassen in fourth and Al-Attiyah in sixth. Seaidan beat Akeel on stage two to seize the benefit to take into the two-day Marathon stage however each Klaassen (engine) and Al-Attiyah (gas pump) floor to a halt with mechanical woes after 180km and 189km, respectively. Mario Franco didn’t begin the stage in his Yamaha and Klaassen was later handed a 20-hour time penalty for an engine block change.

Seaidan stopped close to the beginning of the primary a part of the two-day Marathon, the place Navarro topped the occasions from Cavigliasso and moved as much as second place behind Akeel. The Saudi hit again strongly to win the second a part of the Marathon stage however Akeel took a 4min 45sec lead over Navarro into the ultimate stage and held off the Spaniard to seal victory by 3min 28sec.

SSV class win for Can-Am Manufacturing facility Group’s Ferioli and Cesana; most W2RC factors for Gaspari and Lecourbe

Argentina’s Jeremias Ferioli and José Sebastian Cesana dominated the SSV part of their Can-Am Manufacturing facility Group Maverick R however they weren’t registered for the W2RC. That meant that second-placed Enrico Gaspari, who had picked up factors for second place on the Dakar Rally, claimed the SSV laurels with French co-driver Antoine Lecourbe.

Neither third-placed José Nogueira nor native veteran Yayha Al-Helai have been registered for factors and second place amongst the W2RC crews went to the Italian Michele Cinotto and his navigator Maurizio Dominella within the CST Xtreme Plus Polaris RZR Professional R Sport. 

Portugal’s Alexandre Pinto and Bernardo Oliveira led the class after the Dakar Rally and completed third of the registered crews of their Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR to take care of their leads within the title race. French veteran Claude Fournier was fourth however turbo issues hampered Mansour Al-Helai and he was additional delayed on the ultimate stage. 

Ferioli topped the SSV occasions on the Prologue, the Can-Am driver ending 21 seconds forward of Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi. He then gained the opening stage by 6min 39sec from Mansour Al-Helai, though the Liwa Group UAE driver was the highest-placed of the W2RC-registered males.

The Argentine then topped the occasions once more on SS2 by 13min 47sec from Gaspari with Cinotto the second registered driver dwelling and Al-Helai setting the sixth quickest time after dropping half an hour. Ferioli was awarded the win on the primary half of the wind-affected Marathon stage and retained his lead from Gaspari.

Ferioli narrowly beat Mansour Al-Helai to the win on stage 4 and commenced the ultimate stage with an enormous cushion of 1hr 11min 38sec over Gaspari. Al-Helai stopped with turbo points after 111km and that opened the door for Ferioli to seal a cushty victory by 1hr 26min 44sec.

The Abu Dhabi Desert Problem was held underneath the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Ruler’s Consultant Court docket in Al-Dhafra Area. Supported by the Abu Dhabi Sports activities Council, it was additionally backed by ADNOC Distribution, the Division of Tradition and Tourism Abu Dhabi and different governmental entities, along with Al Futtaim-Toyota and DHL.

Spherical three of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship takes groups to South Africa for the brand new Solar Metropolis-based South African Safari Rally on Could 18th-Twenty fourth. 

Extra data and all outcomes accessible on the 2025 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and W2RC web sites.