Van Bevelen and Al Raj lead final stage in Abu Dhabi

Fog delayed the start of the penultimate stage of this morning’s Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, reducing the special’s distance by car to 173 kilometers. And on this premise, the motorcycle win goes to Argentina’s Luciano Benavidez, with his Husqvarna and Adrian van Beveren remaining leaders. In the car, Sébastien Loeb won the stage, with Yazid Al Raj over ten minutes ahead of Martin Prokop in the general classification.

On the bike, Luciano Benavidez (Husqvarna Factory Racing) dominated the entire stage to take his second victory. Two-day overall leader Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy Honda) was 3’22” and he was second, while Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports) was 4’06” and he was third. Toby Price (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), who had to open the route, finished seventh in 9’01” and lost time.

Benavidez’s victory allowed him to take an important step in the general classification. The Argentinian is now in second place, two minutes and 58 seconds behind the French leader. Nacho his Cornejo finally put Honda on the podium, 6’14 inches behind his teammate. Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports) finished 4th on 6’38”, Skyler Howes (Husqvarna Factory Racing) finished 5th on 7’16”, Toby Price on 6th on 8’35”, Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy Honda) Was 7th at 8′.52″. Less than 9 minutes separating the top 7.

This Friday, Benavidez will start first, just ahead of the French leaders. Not a very favorable position for the Argentinian, but he’s not the only two rivals in the final game. Anything is possible between the top seven with a final special of over 200km.

Rally2 Paolo LucciHaving dominated the category from the beginning, the 20km from the finish line on the day crashed and lost a lot of time. The BAS World KTM Racing rider is no longer in first place in the general classification, with him nearly 11 minutes behind new leader Jean Leupin (Dust Diverse Racing). In the quadruple, Abdulaziz Ahri (Abu Dhabi team) took his third victory over Lais Vidaskansius (AG Dakar School) by more than 16 minutes ahead of him, extending his lead in the overall standings to 3 tomorrow. increased his chances of winning his ADDC for the second time in a row.

First win for Al Raj

Sebastien Loeb (Bahrain Raid Extreme) took his first stage win at ADDC on Thursday. Yazeed Al Rajhi leads the general classification after the retirement of Nasser Al Attiyah. The Saudi driver held off his two main rivals Martin Prokop (Benzina Orlen Team) and he held off Denis Krotov (X-raid Mini JCW) to finish his 6th. The Overdrive Racing driver has an advantage over the Czech by more than 10 minutes and more than twice as much as the Mini driver. Al Rajhi could win his maiden crown at ADDC tomorrow.

If he manages to finish the race, Sébastien Loeb will extend his lead in the championship. Winning the last stage (5 points) would give him a total of 14 points in his ADDC, taking him to 101 points in W2RC compared to his 85 points at Nasser Al-Attiyah. . Like last year, and whatever happens tomorrow, Abu Dhabi his desert his challenge will be a strange race for his two stars of world rally raid.

In T3, Seth Quintero (Red Bull Off-Road Jr Team USA) stood on stage in front of Joao Ferreira (X-raid supported by Yamaha). Seth Quintero continues to lead the general over half an hour ahead of his teammate Austin Jones.

In T4, the duel of Locas Bachuska (Red Bull Can-Am Factory) and Pau Navarro (FN Speed) once again backed the Lithuanian, who leads Catalonia by 23:30.