In 2023, Nasser Al-Attiyah was dominating the Abu Dhabi Desert Problem till he rolled his Toyota Hilux in Stage #3, marking his first retirement from a global rally raid in practically a decade. One 12 months later, now in a Prodrive Hunter, he held off his outdated Toyota colleagues for the victory.
After a irritating begin to the World Rally-Raid Championship when he was pressured to retire from the Dakar Rally, Al-Attiyah rapidly regained his footing in Abu Dhabi when he received the Prologue and Stage #1. His former workforce Toyota Gazoo Racing rapidly put the stress on him from there as his successors Lucas Moraes and Seth Quintero and Overdrive Racing‘s Guerlain Chicherit and reigning winner Yazeed Al-Rajhi gave chase, with Chicherit and Quintero scoring stage wins of their very own.
The third stage as soon as once more proved to be an unfortunate quantity for Al-Attiyah within the ADDC as he misplaced the general result in Quintero, who loved his first win within the Final class, albeit a bittersweet victory for TGR as Moraes retired after his Hilux caught fireplace on the end. Al-Attiyah responded with back-to-back stage wins to shut out the rally, the primary of which pressured Quintero to make up 9:21 on the ultimate day to catch him. A 15-minute penalty for lacking a waypoint ended Quintero’s pursuit and he misplaced a spot to Al-Rajhi within the general.
In contrast to at Dakar, the place he was joined by six, Al-Attiyah had few allies in Abu Dhabi as Marcos and Cristian Baumgart have been the one different Hunters on the grid. Marcos completed fourth, too far again to make the rostrum, whereas Cristian retired after a rollover in Stage #1. Though with out the power in numbers, which helped propel Toyota to the lead within the producer’s championship, Al-Attiyah’s Hunter didn’t let him down prefer it did within the opener as he scored his fourth ADDC triumph alongside 2008, 2016, and 2021. Prodrive additionally loved their third W2RC win after Chicherit and Sébastien Loeb on the 2022 Rallye du Maroc and Andalucía Rally, respectively.
The triumph strikes Al-Attiyah as much as second within the championship behind Carlos Sainz, whose Group Audi Sport shut down after the Dakar as a result of a scarcity of elements. The FIA fined the workforce for his or her absence as that they had registered for the total season. Édouard Boulanger, the navigator for Audi driver and 2022 ADDC champion Stéphane Peterhansel, joined Al-Attiyah for the remainder of the season beginning in Abu Dhabi.
Quintero might need gone in the wrong way within the rating on the ultimate leg, however his third general is definitely nonetheless a spotlight in a burgeoning rally profession. Abu Dhabi was the reigning W2RC Challenger champion’s second profession begin within the prime class after mechanical points plagued his début in Dakar.
“It has been a wild trip this week; we opened twice, we received a stage, however right here we’re, in third place general,” mentioned Quintero. “I wish to thank the complete Toyota Gazoo Racing workforce for his or her work, we had an important automotive and an important race because of their work. Whereas this occasion wasn’t notably robust for us, we did see a number of the different groups wrestle so we’re grateful to have accomplished the rally with none issues. I’ve carried out about 6,000 kilometres within the GR DKR Hilux EVO T1U now, and I’m feeling extra snug with the automotive with every passing kilometre.”
Then again, Chicherit and team-mate Guillaume de Mévius left Abu Dhabi questioning what might have been. After de Mévius completed runner-up to Al-Attiyah in Stage #1 and Chicherit received the following day, each retired for a similar purpose as exhausting landings on separate days triggered the previous to endure a vertebra compression whereas the latter’s co-driver Alex Winocq harm his again, leaving Chicherit to complete Stage #4 by himself earlier than exiting. Overdrive team-mate Juan Cruz Yacopini additionally challenged Al-Attiyah earlier than being concerned in a Stage #3 crash with Martin Prokop, and the following restore course of led to disqualification as a result of his crew got here inside one kilometre of the automobile whereas within the Selective Part.
Pau Navarro, the one Mini John Cooper Works Rally Plus within the discipline, edged out Saood Variawa for fifth by simply two minutes. The highest 5 marked a powerful rebound after breaking his hand at Dakar.
UAE native Aliyyah Koloc completed seventh in her first ADDC in Final.
“It’s a tough race, and it is going to be even trickier within the new automotive,” Koloc commented. “You will need to watch out and secure as a result of it’s exhausting to learn the dunes. The T1+ has extra energy and is heavier, in order that provides some challenges. Additionally, the dunes are very tough, with loads of damaged dunes the place it’s straightforward to get caught.”
The aforementioned accident with Yacopini was the icing on prime of a really chaotic race for Prokop. Previous to the beginning, his Ford Raptor was trapped at customs alongside the Saudi–Emirati border and solely arrived in time for very restricted personal testing earlier than the Prologue. A damaged driveshaft in Stage #2 positioned him in a gap that he was additional plunged into by the crash the following day. He managed to complete third and second within the final two legs, concluding the race in ninth.
Final general outcomes
Final stage winners
W2RC Final standings
In contrast to Challenger and SSV, Final doesn’t have its personal class-specific trophy and as a substitute has a single championship the place drivers from all three points-paying classes are eligible.
For readability, opponents registered for the championship who haven’t earned factors are excluded.
