Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk win the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge 2023

Ce vendredi 3 mars, Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Toyota) a réussi une prouesse jamais vue dans l’histoire de l’Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (ADDC), en devenant le premier pilote saoudien à remporter le rally-raid.

This second round of the 2023 World Rally Raid Championship season (W2RC) was marked by the retirement of Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel (Toyota) and the mechanical problems of Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin (Bahrain Raid Xtreme). Without the two favorites, Yazeed Al-Rajhi's task was somewhat less difficult.

Martin Prokop finished, like last year, in second position in the race in his Ford Ranger. And as in 2022 also, it is a T3 of the Red Bull Off-Road Jr Team USA which takes third place. After “Chaleco” Lopez last year, it is Seth Quintero this year who imposes his Can-Am prepared by South Racing.

W2RC championship update

Loeb is doing well

In the championship, the top three in the standings after the Dakar all experienced their share of misfortunes on the ADDC. Guerlain Chicherit (GCK Motorsports) and Al Attiyah, respectively 2nd and 3rd before the 2nd round, lost more than leader Sébastien Loeb. Their points counters remained blocked while Loeb left by increasing his lead by 14 points thanks to his performances over the last three stages. The Frenchman now has 101 points compared to 85 points for Al Attiyah.

.@ADDCrally 2023 ✅

By receiving more than 100 hours of penalty after the first stage, it seemed inconceivable to achieve our objectives. And yet...

In Rally-Raid, more than anywhere else, you must never give up 💪🏻 #BRX #ADDC #BFGoodrich #Redbull pic.twitter.com/qcBmO0OBv9

- Sébastien Loeb (@SebastienLoeb) March 3, 2023

Sébastien Loeb indeed ends the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge on a good note. “We took some really good points for the championship and that's the best we could have hoped for coming here, leaving with the lead intact. Today we increased our lead from two to 16 points, so I think we should be happy after the problems we had at the start of the race. Thank you to all team members for successfully turning the situation around; They worked very hard and spent long hours to obtain these precious points, both on the rally and at Prodrive. Now we are focusing on the Sonora rally in April.”