2017 ADDC: Abu Issa fourth with three days contested

· Schott/Schulz hold sixth position in the overall standings 

· Another three stages to be contested

The first three days of the 2017 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge are over. After the short Super Special Stage and the first two desert stages Mohamed Abu Issa (QAT) and Xavier Panseri (FRA) hold fourth position in the overall standings, with their MINI ALL4 Racing. In addition, the German pairing Stephan Schott / Andreas Schulz and their MINI ALL4 Racing currently hold sixth place. And there still are another three stages to go.

Having finished fourth in the Super Special Stage, Abu Issa had to settle for coming eighth in the first desert stage and consequently had to start into the second stage from seventh position. And now, everything went fine: he and Panseri finished third and gained enough time for leaping up to fourth in the overall standings. ”I made a good start in yesterday’s stage and then I passed the two cars that had started before me. But then I had to act as pathfinder and I made a stupid mistake. I got stuck on a camel-grass hill and therefore lost more than 20 minutes. Today, I encountered problems in the early stages as the dunes were difficult and had sharp edges. In the second part we really went for it to finish third, in the end. The MINI is running really well and I’m looking forward to the coming three days.”

Schott also started into the ADDC with a top-10 result by finishing ninth in the SSS. He also finished ninth in the first special stage and moved up to eighth in the overall standings. In the second special stage, the German also worked his way up: he finished sixth and now also holds sixth place in the overall standings.

The forthcoming three stages mainly feature sand in dunes. On Thursday, the rally ends with the crossing of the finish podium in Abu Dhabi City.

ADDC 2017 Overall result after SS2:

1. N. Al-Attiyah (QAT) / M. Baumel (MCO) - Toyota - 7h 18m 37s
2. SH. K. Al-Quassimi (UAE) / K. Al-Kendi (UAE) - Peugeot - 7h 41m 40s
3. M. Prokop (CZE) / J. Tomanek (FIN) - Ford - 8h 15m 42s
4. M. Abu Issa (QAT) / X. Panseri (FRA) - MINI ALL4 Racing – 8h 20m 53s
... 6. S. Schott (GER) / A. Schulz (GER) - MINI ALL4 Racing - 9h 04m 23s

ADDC 2017 Result SS2:

1. N. Al-Attiyah (QAT) / M. Baumel (MCO) - Toyota - 4h 02m 34s
2. SH. K. Al-Quassimi (UAE) / K. Al-Kendi (UAE) - Peugeot - 4h 14m 02s
3. M. Abu Issa (QAT) / X. Panseri (FRA) - MINI ALL4 Racing – 4h 21m 40s
... 7. S. Schott (GER) / A. Schulz (GER) - MINI ALL4 Racing - 4h 59m 31s

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Paulo Gonçalves moves up to second overall position in Abu Dhabi

The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge moves into the heart of the Liwa desert with a dune-filled and navigationally tricky second stage. Paulo Gonçalves battles back from a fall to post second on the day. Kevin Benavides continues to make progress and sees a physical improvement in his bid to overcome a hand injury.

 It was a gruelling 290 kilometres against the clock for the Monster Energy Honda Team in the second stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in the Liwa dunes where the riders had plenty of tough navigation and continual direction changes to deal with.

 Portuguese rider Paulo Gonçalves set off in hot pursuit of the front-runners, managing to catch up the leading pack before the first control point at kilometre 70. From then on, the five riders heading the field formed a group that stayed together until the finish-line. A few kilometres from the goal Paulo fell whilst taking a low dune and had to check both the bike and himself for damage. Luckily, the inspection proved to be negative and in little time the rider was back in the fray aboard the Honda CRF450 RALLY to take the day’s second fastest time and move up in the overall ranking to second place.

 Meanwhile Gonçalves’ team-mate in the Monster Energy Honda Team, Kevin Benavides, continues to make a successful comeback to rallying after injury. Apart from minor pains in the wrist area near the race-start, the Argentinean was racing at near full pace in the latter stretches of the race before taking fifth fastest time on the day. The Argentinean rider now lies in sixth overall.

 The third stage will, likewise, be played out tomorrow in the Liwa Desert with 288.73 kilometres of timed special stage.

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Monster Energy Honda Team get their first taste of the Liwa dunes

Monster Energy Honda Team’s Paulo Gonçalves and Kevin Benavides got their Abu Dhabi adventure underway with a technical first stage. Gonçalves posted fourth and Benavides sixth in a race that promises to be tightly-fought over the coming stages.

 Some three months after the Dakar, where the riders of Monster Energy Honda Team last saw real competition, the squad’s duo were back in the thick of the action today with the first full stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge with 276.59 km of Special. Both Portuguese rider Paulo Gonçalves and Argentinean Kevin Benavides had a good day’s racing as they attempted to distance themselves from yesterday’s higher finishers who started out from positions behind them.

 Riding in the dunes is far more difficult for the competitors who open the track, whilst those behind can retrace the tracks left ahead of them and gather vital information about the state of the course and how to make up time. 

Paulo Gonçalves finished fourth on the day conceding three minutes to table-topping Sam Sunderland. Gonçalves will get a shot at clawing the time back tomorrow in another dune-filled stage in the desert to the west of Abu Dhabi.

 For Kevin Benavides, getting his first chance to explore the extraordinary landscapes of the Middle Eastern country, has been something of a revelation as the young rider has the opportunity to compare the Arabian dunes to those of his native South America. Kevin opted for a steady pace today in a bid to get to grips with the CRF450 RALLY.

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AL-ATTIYAH AND SUNDERLAND CONTINUE WINNING WAYS ON FIRST DESERT STAGE OF ABU DHABI DESERT CHALLENGE

· Pole Wisniewski leads the quads; Abu Dhabi’s Al-Qassimi second in the cars 

· Heavy crash sidelines Kazakh Abykayev; Boyter out, Solokha stopped

 Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and Dubai-based Sam Sunderland extended their leads in the car and motorcycle categories by claiming victories through the opening 276.59km selective section of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge POWERED BY NISSAN on Sunday.

 The stage started east of Arjan, south of Abu Dhabi, and finished north of the remote desert resort of Qasr al Sarab. Dakar Rally winner Sunderland started last on the road, claimed the win by just three seconds and holds an overnight advantage of just 5.7 seconds over the Chilean defending FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Champion Pablo Quintanilla, riding his Husqvarna. Sunderland said:

“It was good to win the stage yesterday and have the choice of position, because this race is quite strategic. It was a heavy day, really tough, and we had to push a lot. To start last and finish first was not easy. The deserts are really unpredictable out there. The rain of the past weeks, I lost the front (of the bike) in the sand, in the soft dunes, braking a few times. This caused a bit of stress. But the bike is working good. I will take each day as it comes. Obviously starting first tomorrow, I will lose time. But we will see.”

  “It was a really difficult stage,” said Quintanilla. “I came from behind with Sam. I rode really fast and I was leading for a time. But it was a good stage. It was important to come back strongly from my crash on the Dakar and get my confidence again.”

Kuwait’s Mohammed Jaffar and Abu Dhabi’s Mohammed Al-Balooshi reached the finish in eighth and ninth overall on their respective KTMs.

 Al-Attiyah cruised to the stage win in the cars and his Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux now leads the event by 11in 35.1sec from Abu Dhabi Racing’s Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi.

 Al-Attiyah said: “Today was not easy, but we had a good start position – sixth. We push very hard in the first 70km and pass everybody just to make the gap big. We don’t have any problems. Everything is working very well. Our Toyota is good. It was very hot. Inside the cabin it was 52 (Centigrade). We try and drink water and some energy liquid. Now we see for the next day.”

 Russian Vladimir Vasilyev finished third in his X-raid Mini All4 Racing, Czech Miroslav Zapletal was fourth and fellow countryman Martin Prokop produced an impressive performance in his Ford to claim the fifth fastest time. Italian Eugenio Amos was a surprise sixth in the unofficial standings.

Kuwaiti Fahad Al-Musallam’s advantage in the quad section was short-lived and the Kuwaiti slipped out of the top five in the quad category behind Poland’s stage winning Kamil Wisniewski and Guatemala’s Rodolfo Schippers. Italy’s Camelia Liparoti produced a good performance to finish third.

  “The first stage has never been easy as today has proved. But it’s a way for the competitors to acclimatise to the heat and the conditions before they enter much longer sections of dunes over the coming days,” said event founder and ATCUAE President Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

Saudi Arabia’s Yasir Saeidan has unfinished business in the T2 category after missing out on last year’s title and he made a strong start to his Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge campaign and was the front-running T2 driver at the early passage control checks.

Local driver Mansoor Al-Helai’s plan to push hard in the T2 category suffered a severe setback when he ground to a halt before PC1. Meanwhile, Marat Abykayev’s challenge for T2 honours suffered a terminal blow when the Kazakh crashed his Toyota Land Cruiser heavily early in the stage and co-driver Andrey Chipenko sustained an injury. The medical helicopter was summoned and his co-driver was airlifted to Madinat Zayed hospital with a head injury. He was conscious and in a stable condition.

Dubai-based Saluki Motorsport is running three different makes of car for founder Mark Powell (Buggy), UAE-based Georgy Gomshiashvili (Predator X185) and rookie Omani Abdullah Al-Zubair (Nissan Patrol). Experienced Welshman Quin Evans, Russian Nikita Abramov and former Dakar enduro rider Annie Seel, from Sweden, have been tasked with navigating duties. The trio began the day in 33rd, 30th and 25th overall.

The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge is taking place under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the Ruler’s representative in Al-Dafra region, and has invaluable support from Al Dafrah Region Municipality, Abu Dhabi Municipality, the UAE Army, Abu Dhabi Police, National Ambulance Service, Yas Marina Circuit, ADNOC, Abu Dhabi Aviation, Al-Ain Water, Abu Dhabi Waste Management, Rotana and Centro Hotel – Yas Island, the Qasr Al-Sarab Resort and Al-Forsan Circuit.

Sunday – as it happened

Leading quad rider Fahad Al-Musallam was given the dubious privilege of opening the road for the first of five selective sections on his Yamaha Raptor 700 R. Super special stage winner Sunderland slotted into 39th and last position, but local rider Al-Balooshi lined up in seventh. South Racing’s Jürgen Schröder headed the car contingent in his Nissan Navarra. Al-Attiyah and Al-Qassimi were sixth and seventh into the stage.

Briton Alan Boyter suffered the ignominy of being the first retirement shortly after PC1. The KTN rider was not seriously hurt in a fall, but took the sensible decision not to carry on. Kazakh Kirill Solokha stopped with mechanical issues on his quad, as Quintanilla headed Sunderland, Walkner and Gonçalves at the second passage control. Emirati Khalid Al-Falaisi dropped a lot of time before PC1 with mechanical issues with his Honda.

Predictably, perhaps, Al-Attiyah was the quickest of the drivers to PC1 and headed Al-Qassimi’s new Peugeot 3008DKR by a virtual 4min 31sec. He extended that advantage to over six and a half minutes at the second checkpoint and reached the finish in a time of 3hr 14min 17sec to take a lead of 11min 35.1sec into the overnight halt.

Al-Qassimi said: “The results for today is good. I want to be in the top 10. The stage was hard, especially in the final kilometres. When we came to the small dunes and soft sand. But, overall, the result is good.”

The motorcycle tussle was far closer. Sunderland held a virtual three-second advantage over Quintanilla at PC3 and went on to win the stage by three seconds to hold a lead of 5.7 seconds at the end of the day.

Tomorrow (Monday), competitors enter the feared dunes of the Rub Al-Khali for the first time. The stage starts on the road from Mezaira’a to Madinat Zayed and heads west towards two passage controls off the Ghayathi Road, before reaching PC3, near Arada, and heading to a finish near Moreeb Hill. The stage runs for 289.39km and a liaison of 99.69km guides entrants back to the bivouac.

2017 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge – positions after Leg 1 (Sunday – unofficial @ 15.50hrs):

Cars
1. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 3hr 16min 03.7sec
2. Khalid Al-Qassimi (ARE)/Khaled Al-Kendi (ARE) Peugeot 3008 DKR 3hr 27min 38.8sec
3. Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS)/Konstantin Zhiltsov (RUS) Mini All4 Racing 3hr 31min 49.6sec
4. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Marek Sykora (SLO) Hummer H3 Evo VII 3hr 42min 36.2sec
5. Martin Prokop (CZE)/Jan Tomanek (CZE) Ford F-150 Evo 3hr 51min 20.1sec
6. Eugenio Amos (ITA)/Rafael Tornabell (ESP) Buggy 2WD 3hr 56min 00.7sec
7. Khalid Al-Jafla (ARE)/Ahmed Malik (ARE) Chevrolet Silverado 3hr 56min 55.2sec
8. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT)/Xavier Panseri (FRA) Mini All4 Racing 3hr 59min 13.7sec
9. Stephan Schott (DEU)/Andreas Schulz (DEU) Mini All4 Racing 4hr 04min 52.2sec
10. Khaled Al-Feraihi (ARE)/Ali Hassan Obaid (ARE) Nissan Patrol 4hr 16min 48.3sec

Bikes
1. Sam Sunderland (GBR) KTM 450 Rally Factory 3hr 31min 09.5sec
2. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI) Husqvarna 450 Rally 3hr 31min 15.2sec
3. Matthias Walkner (AUT) KTM 450 Rally Factory 3hr 32min 16.6sec
4. Paolo Gonçalves (PRT) Honda 450 CRF Rally 3hr 34min 19.8sec
5. Pierre Alexander Renet (FRA) Husqvarna 450 Rally 3hr 37min 49.3sec
6. Kevin Benavides (ARG) Honda 450 CRF Rally 3hr 40min 31.5sec
7. Antoine Meo (FRA) KTM 450 Rally Factory 3hr 51min 13.1sec
8. Mohammed Jaffar (KUW) KTM 450 Rally Replica 3hr 56min 42.5sec
9. Mohammed Al-Balooshi (ARE) KTM 450 Rally Replica 4hr 08min 07.7sec
10. David McBride (GBR) KTM 450 Rally Replica 4hr 14min 05.6sec

Quads
1. Kamal Wisniewski (POL) Yamaha Raptor 700 R 4hr 45min 51.4sec
2. Rodolfo Schippers (GUA) Yamaha Raptor 700 R 4hr 46min 45.9sec
3. Khalifa Al-Raeesi (ARE) Honda TRX 700 4hr 54min 31.8sec
4. Camelia Liparoti (ITA) Yamaha Raptor 700 R 4hr 55min 18.4sec
5. Maxim Antimirov (KAZ) Honda TRX 700 4hr 57min 32.4sec
6. Fahad Al-Musallam (KUW) Yamaha Raptor 700R 5hr 00min 57.2sec

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Gonçalves and Benavides start in Abu Dhabi

Monster Energy Honda Team get the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship underway in Abu Dhabi with the Super Special at the Yas Marina Circuit.

 A curtain-raiser of just over two kilometres of Super Special marked the opening of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge at the Yas Marina Circuit this afternoon and decided the starting order for tomorrow’s first full stage. The track proved to be a slippery, hazardous affair and given that the surface had caused a few falls and skids, many of the riders decided to take it easy and minimize risks.

 Portuguese rider Paulo Gonçalves was the first of the Monster Energy Honda Team duo to cross the line, some 5.3 seconds behind the day’s winner Sam Sunderland.

 Kevin Benavides came home tucked in behind with a marginally greater time, just eight seconds adrift of Sunderland in eighth place. The Argentinean rider is back in action after over three months out due to a right hand injury. The promising young rider will use the event to progressively get back into the swing of racing after the lengthy hiatus.

 The first fifteen finishers will be able to choose the starting order for the first stage and, as is habitual, the first finishers are likely to choose to attack from the rear of the field tomorrow. The Honda CRF450 RALLY riders will start out from around the twentieth position.

 Tomorrow, competitors get to tackle the first full stage which will take place entirely in the Liwa. On the agenda are 276.59 kilometres of timed special in a total stage of 418.96 km. The Qsar Al Sarab bivouac situated in the Liwa oasis will be home to the riders for the forthcoming days.

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AL-FORSAN STAGE GLORY FOR AL-ATTIYAH, SUNDERLAND AND AL-MUSALLAM AT ABU DHABI DESERT CHALLENGE

· Meat of the real action starts with a 276.59km desert stage on Sunday 

Qatar’s Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah, Dubai-based Englishman Sam Sunderland and Kuwait’s Fahad Al-Musallam claimed the fastest times in the car, motorcycle and quad categories on the two cross-over laps of the very short super special stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge POWERED BY NISSAN, held at the Al-Forsan International Sports Resort, on Saturday afternoon.

 Behind the early pace-setters in their respective categories, former Czech WRC star Martin Prokop (Ford) and Russian Vladimir Vasilyev (Mini) and were second and third quickest in the cars behind Al-Attiyah’s Toyota Hilux. Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi’s first competitive kilometres in his new Abu Dhabi Racing Peugeot 3008 DKR resulted in a cautious sixth.

 Frenchman Antoine Meo (KTM) and Chile’s Pablo Quintanilla (Husqvarna) rounded off the top three on two wheels behind Sunderland’s factory KTM. Aussie Lee Stephens pushed hard on his KTM 500 EXC to finish sixth, but is not eligible for the FIM World Championship.

 Yamaha-mounted Al-Musallam, the winner of the recent Dubai International Baja’s quad section, snatched a 4.8-second lead over Dutchman Kees Koolen, while Peru’s Alexis Hernandez Ponce was third quad home.

 Cars were flagged away from the start by His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al-Nahyan, Minister of Culture and Knowledge Development and Chairman of the General Authority for Youth and Sports Welfare, and event founder and ATCUAE President Mohammed Ben Sulayem.

  “It’s all systems go now for everyone for the next five days,” said Ben Sulayem. “We had a competitors’ briefing at Yas Marina this morning and our team emphasised, once again, the importance of safety and personal well being on the rally, as we head deep into some of the most beautiful desert terrain on the planet.”

 Twenty-five motorcycles, 14 quads and 34 cars left the start and the honour of running first on the road for the stage was handed to the duo of Koolan and Guatemala’s Rodolfo Schippers. Quads and motorcycles ran in pairs in reverse order, although local rider Mohammed Al-Balooshi was given the task of being the first bike and moving ahead of Pablo Quintanilla for the ceremonial start on his Ride to Abu Dhabi Team KTM.

 Qatar’s Mohammed Al-Meer and Khalid Al-Mohannadi were non-starters from the original entry list and Dubai-based American dentist Mike Ziegler was demoted to a national category running behind the last T3 car after homologation issues with his Toyota Prado. Saudi Arabia’s Ahmed Al-Malki, meanwhile, switched his Isuzu D-Max from T2 to the T1 category, but Colombian driver Antonio Marmolejo suffered mechanical issues and was not able to start at the 11th hour.

 Seven cars started the event in the T2 category for series production cross-country vehicles and the fastest time fell to Saudi Arabia’s Yasir Saeidan in his Toyota Land Cruiser by a mere tenth of a second from the local driver Mansoor Al-Helai. Defending FIA T2 World Champion Adel Hussein finished several seconds behind in his Nissan Patrol.

 First blood in the T3 section went to the Frenchman Patrice Garrouste in his Polaris RZR 100. Ahmed Al-Maqoodi, the winner of the 2016 Dubai International Rally, was second.

 The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge is taking place under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the Ruler’s representative in Al-Dafra region, and has invaluable support from Al Dafrah Region Municipality, Abu Dhabi Municipality, the UAE Army, Abu Dhabi Police, National Ambulance Service, Yas Marina Circuit, ADNOC, Abu Dhabi Aviation, Al-Ain Water, Abu Dhabi Waste Management, Rotana and Centro Hotel – Yas Island, the Qasr Al-Sarab Resort and Al-Forsan Circuit.

 Tomorrow (Sunday) the real meat of the desert action gets underway with the first of five selective sections of 276.59km. The stage starts to the east of Arjan, south of Abu Dhabi, and finishes 19km to the north of Hameem on a major truck road en route to the event’s purpose-built bivouac near the remote Qasr Al Sarab desert resort. This is situated close to the desolate Rub Al-Khali and the Saudi Arabian frontier.

 2017 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge – positions after SSS (Saturday - unofficial):

Cars
1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Matthieu Baumel (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 1min 46.7sec
2. Martin Prokop (CZE)/Jan Tomanek (CZE) Ford F-150 Evo 1min 51.1sec
3. Vladimir Vasilyev (RUS)/Konstantin Zhiltsov (RUS) Mini All4 Racing 1min 51.6sec
4. Mohammed Abu Issa (QAT)/Xavier Panseri (FRA) Mini All4 Racing 1min 51.7sec
5. Aron Domzala (POL)/Szymon Gospodarczyk (POL) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 1min 52.7sec
6. Khalid Al-Qassimi (ARE)/Khalid Al-Kendi (ARE) Peugeot 3008 DKR 1min 52.8sec
7. Hernan Garces (CHI)/Juan Pablo Latrach (CHI) Ford Ranger 1min 53.2sec
8. Stephan Schott (DEU)/Andreas Schulz (DEU) Mini All4 Racing 1min 54.2sec
8. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Marek Sykora (SLO) Hummer H3 Evo VII 1min 54.2sec
10. Jürgen Schröder (DEU)/Maximilian Schröder (DEU) Nissan Navara 1min 55.3sec

 Bikes
1. Sam Sunderland (GBR) KTM 450 Rally Factory 1min 47.5sec
2. Antoine Meo (FRA) KTM 450 Rally Factory 1min 48.1sec
3. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI) Husqvarna 450 Rally 1min 50.2sec
4. Matthias Walkner (AUT) KTM 450 Rally Factory 1min 50.6sec
5. Pierre Alexander Renet (FRA) Husqvarna 450 Rally 1min 51.3sec
6. Lee Stephens (AUS) KTM 500 EXC 1min 52.7sec
7. Paolo Gonçalves (PRT) Honda 450 CRF Rally 1min 52.8sec
8. Kevin Benavides (ARG) Honda 450 CRF Rally 1min 55.5sec
9. Mohammed Al-Balooshi (ARE) KTM 450 Rally Replica 2min 00.7sec
10. Benjamin Melot (FRA) KTM 450 Rally Replica 2min 02.7sec

 Quads
1. Fahad Al-Musallam (KUW) Yamaha Raptor 700R 1min 49.2sec
2. Kees Koolen (NED) Barren Racer One 690 1min 54.0sec
3. Alexis Hernandez Ponce (PER) Yamaha Raptor 700 R 1min 54.8sec
4. Maxim Antimirov (KAZ) Honda TRX 700 1min 56.4sec
5. Lucas Innocente (ARG) Yamaha Raptor 700 R 1min 57.6sec
6. Rafal Sonik (POL) Honda TRX 700 1min 57.8sec
7. Khalifa Al-Raeesi (ARE) Honda TRX 700 1min 57.8sec
 8. Rodolfo Schippers (GUA) Yamaha Raptor 700 R 1min 57.9sec

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Monster Energy Honda Team head for Abu Dhabi as the Cross-Country Rallies World Championship gets underway

Monster Energy Honda Team begin the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship campaign this weekend with the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. Paulo Gonçalves and Kevin Benavides line up for the race.

 After kicking off the season successfully with American Ricky Brabec clinching a notable victory at the Sonora Rally, Monster Energy Honda Team now field team-mates Paulo Gonçalves and Kevin Benavides in Abu Dhabi for the start of the world championship. The team returns to the race following last year’s absence.

 Portuguese rider Paulo Gonçalves returns to the action in the Middle East after post-Dakar vacations. Paulo – a previous winner in the 2014 edition – will be looking for a prudent re-entry to racing, particularly as Abu Dhabi presents plenty of potential dangers involving dunes, high-speeds and a high degree of technical navigation.

 Argentina’s promising young Kevin Benavides makes an Abu Dhabi debut with a return to competitions after an injury picked up just days before the start of the Dakar 2017. With various right hand fractures behind him the rider from Salta is ready to go full-throttle on the Honda CRF450 RALLY.

 The two Monster Energy Honda Team riders are scheduled to take part in every round of the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship with the first stop at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, which gets underway from the Yas Marina on 31st March with the technical and administrative shake-down.

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João Dias brilha na estreia do novo Polaris

Piloto de Torres Vedras Pela segunda vez consecutiva o venceu o Troféu Polaris 

João Dias venceu entre os Polaris no XXXº Raid TT da Ferraria e terminou no segundo posto da categoria SSV. Na prova em que estreou a sua nova máquina o piloto de Torres Vedras demonstrou estar preparado para lutar pelo título e terminou a corrida com uma diferença de apenas 36 segundos do primeiro lugar.

 Apesar das condições climatéricas adversas em que se disputou este Raid da Ferraria, João Dias acompanhado por João Filipe conseguiu imprimir sempre um bom andamento: “foi uma corrida atípica, nunca tinha apanhado a Ferraria assim. Penso que esta foi a prova em que apanhei piores condições climatéricas. Ainda assim, correu tudo bem e conseguimos fazer uma boa corrida. Foi a minha estreia com o novo Polaris Turbo e felizmente consegui adaptar-me bem ao carro que está fenomenal. Este campeonato está muito competitivo e pelo que estou a ver este ano vai ser tudo decidido ao segundo. Ainda falta muito Campeonato pela frente e acho que as surpresas vão ser muitas” contou João Dias.

 Além do mau tempo esta prova teve dificuldades acrescidas por não haver roadbook: “não tivemos o roadbook que é sempre uma ajuda preciosa, mas ainda que o tivéssemos a navegação seria difícil devido às condições climatéricas. Ajudei o João a navegar à vista e o que fiz foi planear mais as distâncias e prepará-lo para algumas curvas ou perigos. Foi preciso ter muita concentração, porque estávamos a competir com um carro novo, e só arriscámos quando foi preciso. Mas, penso que foi uma boa estreia deste novo Polaris”, revelou o navegador João Filipe. 

O Campeonato Nacional de Todo-o-Terreno está de regresso a 14 e 15 de abril com a realização da Baja de Loulé.

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