ADDC – Stage 5: Al-Attiyah and Boulanger take the final victory, first for Dacia in the event

There was no real suspense on Thursday on the sidelines of the 5th and final stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. At the dawn of this final start of the week, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Lucas Moraes were separated by 41 seconds in the general classification, with the advantage of the former.

What predicts a lively 5th stage? Only on paper because on the ground Nasser Al-Attiyah and his co-driver Edouard Boulanger quickly took care of quickly dampening the hopes of their rivals of a comeback Toyota. In fact, the Dacia driver rode alone on these 167 timed kilometers between Mezeer'ah and Abu Dhabi.

Systematically in the lead at each checkpoint, the Qatari gradually pulled away until he had more than a minute's lead over Lucas Moraes, who unfortunately was powerless against his rival. So it was alone that Nasser Al-Attiyah raced towards the finish line to win with a 2'28 lead over the Brazilian in the general classification.

For the five-time Dakar winner, this is his 5th victory in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, his 2nd in just 3 starts with Dacia after the Rally of Morocco last September. His teammate Edouard Boulanger, did almost as well with a third victory in Abu Dhabi after his success in 2022 with Stéphane Peterhansel and last year with Nasser Al-Attiyah. Winner of the Dakar last January, Yazeed Al-Rajhi was forced to retire after encountering overheating problems on his Toyota Hilux. Finally, and as expected, Sébastien Loeb was not allowed to start the final stage after his accident the day before.

Provisional classification of stage 5

Provisional general classification after stage 5

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