After his victory on the Dakar last January, Sam Sunderland won the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge today just ahead of the two Hondas of Ricky Brabec (+3’08”) and Pablo Quintanilla (+3’56”).
In the overall W2RC standings, the Dakar winner increases his lead (63 points) over Quintanilla (46 points). Matthias Walkner (35 points) finishes 5th. The reigning World Champion just retains his place on the W2RC provisional podium ahead of Ricky Brabec (34 points). The American did the best operation of this second round by moving from 7th place overall to just off the podium.
In the Manufacturers’ World Championship standings, the Monster Energy Honda team maintains its advantage thanks to its one-two finish on the podium. Honda now has 83 points against 63 points for GasGas.
Just behind, KTM remain in touch with 60 points thanks to 4th and 5th place on the ADDC for Price and Walkner. Hero Motosports took advantage of the performances of Rodrigues and Caimi to take 4th place from Sherco.
Rally 2: Klein, who else?
11th overall, just behind his mentor and compatriot Skyler Howes, and in front of Sherco official Santolino, Mason Klein (BAS World KTM Racing) doubled his score.
After his victory on the Dakar he wins the ADDC. He now has 63 points. Romain Dumontier (HT Rally Husqvarna Racing) 2nd in the event, takes this place overall with 44 points.
Konrad Dabrowski (Duust Rally Team), 4th in Abu Dhabi, also occupies this place behind Chapelière with 27 points. Paolo Lucci (Solarys Racing), 3rd in the race is now 7th in the category.
Quad: Ahli unbreakable
Unbreakable at home, Abdulaziz Ahli, the ADDC title holder, keeps his crown in front of the other Yamaha Raptors of Juraj Varga and Rodolfo Guillioli.
In the W2RC provisional standings, the Emirati rider is now in 3rd place in the category with 25 points, Juraj Varga is in 5th place with 20 points and Rodolfo Guillioli in 7th place with 16 points.
Drivers’ and co-drivers’ World Championship: Loeb and Lurquin new leaders
Peterhansel and Prokop, who came especially to test their new T1 Ultimate and T1+ in the heat of Abu Dhabi, were not expecting much. ‘Mr Dakar’ wins the race for the 7th time, twenty years after his first victory in 2002, while the Czech driver takes 2nd place.
Al Attiyah, Loeb, Al Rajhi and their co-drivers, the three leading teams in the W2RC standings at the end of the Dakar, each had a dark day due to mechanical problems. They then embarked on a daily hunt for places of honour that yielded precious points (from 1 to 5 for the top 5).
Al Attiyah and Baumel proved to be the strongest in this game, winning four stages in a row after their poor start. The Toyota Gazoo Racing team collected 20 points, to which they added the 6 points from their 11th place in the W2RC class. The Dakar winner limited the damage by collecting 26 points.
Loeb and Lurquin, who arrived at the start of the second round one point behind Al Attiyah, took 28 points, two more than their designated rivals. The Frenchman, who finished one point behind in the overall standings, leaves Abu Dhabi with a one-point lead. Loeb leads the W2RC with 112 points to the Qatari’s 111.
Al Rajhi (Toyota Overdrive) retains his 3rd place in the overall standings with 70 points.
Przygonski, the first T1 and third fastest driver on the ADDC among the W2RC entries is now 4th with 58 points.
Winner of the W2RC standings at the ADDC, ‘Chaleco’ has jumped up the provisional World Rally-Raid Championship standings and is now in 5th place with 40 points. Mathieu Serradori (SRT Racing) is 6th with 38 points, Cristina Gutierrez is 7th with 26 points and Halpern in his new Hilux is 9th with 23 points behind Lucio Alvarez.
Constructors: Toyota Gazoo Racing stays the course
The OT3 by Overdrive of the Red Bull Off-Road Junior team left the ADDC with the most points. Cristina Gutierrez and Seth Quintero gave their manufacturer 47 points. The X-raid Mini JCW of ‘Kuba’ Przygonski, the first T1 among the W2RC entries, takes 25 points, two better than the Toyotas and five more than Loeb’s Bahrain Raid Xtreme Hunter.
In the provisional standings, Toyota Gazoo Racing still holds the lead with 103 points ahead of X-raid Mini JCW (70 points), Bahrain Raid Xtreme (65 points), OT3 by Overdrive (63 points), PH-Sport (29 points) and MD Rallye Sport Optimus (25 points).
T3: ‘Chaleco’ doubles up
The duel between the Dakar winner and the world female 2021 number one once again turned to the advantage of ‘Chaleco’. The South Racing Can-Am driver resisted the repeated assaults of the four Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team members and won ahead of the Spaniard and Seth Quintero. He remains leader (141 points) ahead of Cristina (116 points) and Seth (97th points).
T4: Jones under pressure
After his victory on the Dakar, Austin Jones (Can-Am Factory South Racing) had a difficult first day on the ADDC. He then had to face attacks from the two Goczal brothers and young Lithuanian Rokas Baciuska who saw the opportunity to catch up with the American in the W2RC standings.
Austin still holds the lead with 119 points, but only one point ahead of Marek Goczal (Cobant Energylandia) who has pocketed the maximum points possible. The Pole won all the stages plus the general classification, which gives him 50 points. He takes the advantage over Rokas Baciuska with whom he was tied and who now has 107 points. Michal Goczal is at the foot of the podium with 91 points.
T5: Koolen out on his own
Martin Macik started the ADDC with a solo run that he is famous for, but was forced to retire half way through the race. In doing so he left the door wide open for Kees Koolen’s crew (Project 2030) who won the second round of the W2RC and with it took the lead in the general standings.
The Dutch team has 140 points against 108 for the Czech team MM Technology.
