2024 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge: 101 on entry list

Despite only being the second round of the World Rally-Raid Championship, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge will be missing some major star power as Dakar Rally overall winners Team Audi Sport and Monster Energy Honda Rally Team are absent. Forty-five drivers and fifty-six riders will hope to step it up in their place.

While Dakar bike winner Honda will return for the BP Ultimate Rally Raid in April, Audi is gone entirely: although Audi finally won the Dakar on the FIA side with Carlos Sainz and had plans of racing for the championship, a lack of suitable parts expedited their intended shutdown at the end of 2024 to Tuesday. Sainz, Mattias Ekström, and Stéphane Peterhansel are permitted to race for other teams and classes, though none are taking part. Peterhansel’s co-driver Édouard Boulanger will still show up to Abu Dhabi as the new navigator for Nasser Al-Attiyah, who parted ways with Mathieu Baumel after a successful decade in rally raid.

After his Dakar defence ended in disaster, Al-Attiyah hopes to make up lost ground with Prodrive. His ally Sébastien Loeb and Bahrain Raid Xtreme, who won five stages at Dakar, are not entered, though brothers Cristian and Marcos Baumgart will fill the void. With Audi and Loeb gone, the seventeen-driver Ultimate class is all the more up for grabs. Sainz’s absence means Toyota will have an opportunity to take the points lead courtesy of Overdrive Racing’s Guillaume de Mévius and Guerlain Chicherit, who respectively trail Sainz by eighteen and twenty points. Fellow Toyota driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi, fresh off winning the FIA Baja World Cup’s Saudi Baja, is aiming to go back-to-back in the ADDC.

A championship lead change is also guaranteed in Challenger as Mitch Guthrie is not racing either, which Rokas Baciuška hopes to capitalise on; Baciuška exited Dakar seventeen points behind Guthrie. Dakar winner Cristina Gutiérrez is entered but not competing for the championship. Austin Jones has a new navigator in Oriol Mena, who normally works with Eryk Goczał, following Gustavo Gugelmin’s de facto retirement after Dakar.

Yasir Seaidan finished third in SSV at Dakar, which gave him the category’s points lead as Xavier de Soultrait and Jérôme de Sadeleer were not eligible for points. He will have a new co-driver for Abu Dhabi in Michaël Metge, who replaces his younger brother Adrien.

RallyGP, despite being the top bike class, will feature a paltry four entrants. Honda made up the bulk of the class at Dakar but is skipping Abu Dhabi to give their six riders a rest (except for Tosha Schareina, who is competing in this weekend’s FIM E-Xplorer World Cup), while defending champion Luciano Benavides of Husqvarna as well as the KTM and GasGas factory teams are not racing for points. With so many riders skipping Abu Dhabi, Hero MotoSports has a golden opportunity as Ross Branch is virtually assured to take the points lead, currently trailing Honda’s Ricky Brabec by eight points, and Sebastian Bühler will try to bounce back from his Dakar crash. The only other two RallyGP riders entered, Mohammed Al-Balooshi and Aaron Marè, are not W2RC-eligible; Al-Balooshi is the reigning FIM Bajas World Cup champion who recently won the Saudi Baja, while Marè enters his first W2RC race since the 2022 Dakar Rally, incidentally racing for Hero that time.

Rally2 features forty-seven riders but the top two Romain Dumontier and Bradley Cox are not among them. Third-placed Jean-Loup Lepan will try to leapfrog both, tailing the former by fourteen, while series regular Michael Docherty is seeking to establish a foothold after crashing out of the opener. Lepan is one of just four riders in the top ten standings at Abu Dhabi alongside Tobias Ebster (seventh), Konrad Dąbrowski (ninth), and Jan Brabec (tenth). Although outside the top ten, David McBride and Oran O’Kelly have a chance to make significant leaps as well.

Ebster won both the ADDC in Rally2 and the Road to Dakar challenge in 2023, the latter granting him free registration for the Dakar. Justin Gerlach and Jonathan Savel hopes to do the same for Dakar 2025 through the RtD after coming up short last year, while Willem Avenant is striving for it in his first major step towards ‘decoding’ Dakar.

Saulius Klevinskas, a former goalkeeper who played for the Lithuanian national team, enters his first W2RC race after mainly competing in amateur rallies like the Breslau Rallye and Fenix Rally. Another series newcomer is Christoph Lischka, the head of development for BMW Motorrad. Kees Koolen, the 2022 W2RC Truck champion, makes his championship début on two wheels.

Although all Quad riders at Dakar are registered for the W2RC, Hani Al-Noumesi is the only one taking part at Abu Dhabi. Abdulaziz Ahli will be going for his fourth consecutive ADDC win in the class. Kamil Wiśniewski returns to the championship after missing Dakar with a knee injury.

The 2024 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge begins with the Prologue stage on 26 February and runs through 2 March.

UPDATE (20 February): Yahya Al-Helei will race a Challenger after previously being entered in the Ultimate class. He and his brother Mansour Al-Helei swap navigators, with Khalid Al-Kendi moving to Mansour’s side while Mohammed Hamri becomes Yahya’s. Pietro Cinotto will now have Szymon Gospodarczyk as co-driver instead of Alberto Bertoldi.

FIA entry list

Ultimate

Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Team	Vehicle	Class
201	Guillaume de Mévius	Xavier Panseri	Overdrive Racing	Toyota Hilux Overdrive	T1+
202	Guerlain Chicherit	Alex Winocq	Overdrive Racing	Toyota Hilux Overdrive	T1+
203	Lucas Moraes	Armand Monleón	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Toyota GR DKR Hilux	T1+
204	Martin Prokop	Viktor Chytka	ORLEN Jipocar Team	Ford Raptor	T1+
205	Denis Krotov	Konstantin Zhiltsov	Overdrive Racing	Toyota Hilux Overdrive	T1+
206	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Édouard Boulanger	Nasser Racing	Prodrive Hunter	T1+
207	Cristian Baumgart	Alberto Andreotti	X Rally Team	Prodrive Hunter	T1+
208	Saood Variawa	François Cazalet	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Toyota GR DKR Hilux	T1+
209	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	Timo Gottschalk	Overdrive Racing	Toyota Hilux Overdrive	T1+
210	Juan Cruz Yacopini	Daniel Oliveiras	Overdrive Racing	Toyota Hilux Overdrive	T1+
211	Seth Quintero	Dennis Zenz	Toyota Gazoo Racing	Toyota GR DKR Hilux	T1+
212	Marcos Baumgart	Kleber Cincea	X Rally Team	Prodrive Hunter	T1+
213	Pau Navarro	Andreas Schulz	X-raid Mini JCW Team	Mini John Cooper Works Rally Plus	T1+
214	Aliyyah Koloc	Sébastien Delaunay	Buggyra ZM Racing	Red-Lined REVO	T1+
215	Lionel Baud	Lucie Baud	Overdrive Racing	Toyota Hilux Overdrive	T1+
217	Ahmed El Shamy*	Hassan Obaid	Ahmed El Shamy	Fast & Speed 2WD	T1.2
218	Roman Starikovich*	Bert Heskes	Roman Starikovich	Toyota Hilux	T1.1

Challenger

Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Team	Vehicle
301	Rokas Baciuška	Oriol Vidal	Can-Am Factory Team	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo
302	Marcelo Gastaldi	Carlos Sachs	BBR Motorsport	MCE-5 Taurus T3 Max
303	Nicolás Cavigliasso	Valentina Pertegarini	Wevers Sport	MCE-5 Taurus T3 Max
304	Austin Jones	Oriol Mena	Can-Am Factory Team	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo
305	Dania Akeel	Stéphane Duple	Wevers Sport	MCE-5 Taurus T3 Max
306	Cristina Gutiérrez*	Pablo Moreno Huete	Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team	MCE-5 Taurus T3 Max
307	Annett Quandt*	Annie Seel	X-raid Yamaha Supported Team	Yamaha YXZ1000R Turbo Prototype
308	Hernán Garcés*	Juan Pablo Latrach	South Racing Can-Am	Can-Am Maverick
309	Khalid Aljafla*	Andrei Rudnitski	Aljafla Racing	Can-Am Maverick R
310	Pál Lónyai*	Filippo Ippolito	X-raid Yamaha Supported Team	Yamaha YXZ1000R Turbo Prototype
311	Gunter Hinkelmann*	Fabrizio Bianchini	BBR Motorsport	MCE-5 Taurus T3 Max
312	Puck Klaassen*	Augusto Sanz	Wevers Sport	MCE-5 Taurus T3 Max
313	Yahya Al-Helei*	Mohammed Hamri	R-X Sport	Can-Am Maverick

SSV

Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Team	Vehicle
400	Yasir Seaidan	Michaël Metge	MMP Compétition	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo
401	Sara Price	Jeremy Gray	South Racing Can-Am	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo
402	João Ferreira	Filipe Palmeiro	South Racing Can-Am	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo
403	Sebastián Guayasamín	Fernando Matias Acosta	FN Speed Team	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo
404	Enrico Gaspari	Alberto Marcon	TH-Trucks Team	Polaris RZR Pro R
405	Ricardo Ramilo	Fausto Mota	Scuderia Ramilo Rodamoto	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo
406	Rebecca Busi	Sergio Lafuente	OnlyFans Racing	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo
407	Michele Cinotto	Maurizio Dominella	Xtremeplus	Polaris RZR Pro R
408	Claude Fournier	Serge Gounon	MMP Compétition	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo
409	Robert Szustkowski*	Albert Gryszcuk	Robert Szustkowski	Polaris RZR Pro R
410	Piotr Beaupre*	Jarosław Kazberuk	Piotr Beaupre	Polaris RZR Pro R
411	Mansour Al-Helei*	Khalid Al-Kendi	Mansour Al-Helei	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo
412	Atif Alzarouni*	Mohammed Hasan Innab	Atif Alzarouni	Yamaha YXZ1000R SS
413	Justas Grendelis*	Simonas Ramanauskas	Justas Grendelis	Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo
414	Pietro Cinotto*	Szymon Gospodarczyk	Xtremeplus	Polaris RZR Pro R

FIM entry list

RallyGP

Number	Rider	Team	Bike
14	Sebastian Bühler	Hero MotoSports	Hero 450 Rally
25	Mohammed Al-Balooshi*	MX Ride Dubai	KTM 450 Rally
44	Aaron Marè*	SRG Motorsports	KTM 450 Rally Replica
46	Ross Branch	Hero MotoSports	Hero 450 Rally

Rally2

Number	Rider	Team	Bike
22	Michael Docherty	SRG Motorsports	Husqvarna FC 450 Rally
26	Konrad Dąbrowski	DUUST Rally Team	KTM 450 Rally Replica
33	Jan Brabec	Strojrent Racing	KTM 450 Rally Replica
34	Jonathan Savel* #	Jonathan Savel	KTM 450 Rally Replica
35	Damien Bataller* #	Team DB Racing	KTM 450 Rally
36	Jean-Philippe Revolte* #	JBS Moto	KTM 450 Rally
37	Jiří Brož	SRG Motorsports	KTM 450 Rally Replica
38	Sarath Mohan*	SRG Motorsports	Husqvarna FE 450
40	Hamdan Al-Ali* #	Hamdan Al-Ali	Husqvarna FE 450
41	Badr Al-Hamdan* #	Badr Al-Hamdan	Yamaha WR450F Rally
43	Happy Verma*	SRG Motorsports	KTM 450 EXC-F
45	Jatin Jain*	SRG Motorsports	Kove 450 Rally
47	Blas Zapag Peralta*	HT Rally Raid Husqvarna	Husqvarna FR 450 Rally
48	Axel Mustad*	HT Rally Raid Husqvarna	Husqvarna FR 450 Rally
49	Nerimantas Jucius*	HT Rally Raid Husqvarna	Husqvarna FR 450 Rally
50	Willem Avenant*	HT Rally Raid Husqvarna	Husqvarna FR 450 Rally
51	Kees Koolen*	HT Rally Raid Husqvarna	Husqvarna FR 450 Rally
53	Filip Grot*	DUUST Rally Team	KTM 450 Rally Replica
55	Ehab Al-Hakeem* #	Ehab Al-Hakeem	Yamaha WR450F Rally
56	Gediminas Satkus*	AG Dakar School	KTM 450 Rally
57	Saulius Klevinskas*	AG Dakar School	KTM 450 Rally
58	Abdulhaim Al-Mogeera*	Abdulhaim Al-Mogeera	KTM 450 Rally
59	Martin Chalmers* #	Martin Chalmers	GasGas 450 Rally
60	Stephan Preuss* #	Stephan Preuss	KTM 450 Rally
61	Florian Dietrich* #	Florian Dietrich*	KTM 450 Rally
62	Christoph Lischka*	Christoph Lischka	KTM 450 Rally
63	Stephan Breisach*	Stephan Breisach	KTM 450 Rally
64	Lothar Hartmann	Lothar Hartmann*	KTM 450 Rally
65	Justin Gerlach*	Justin Gerlach	KTM 450 Rally
66	Iván Merichal Resina*	Xraids Experience	KTM 450 Rally Factory Replica
67	Rolando Martinez*	Xraids Experience	KTM 450 Rally Factory Replica
68	Murun Purevdorj*	Murun Purevdorj	KTM 450 EXC
69	Marwan Al-Rahmani*	ADNOC	KTM 450 Rally
70	Mykolas Paulavičius*	DUUST Rally Team	KTM 450 Rally Replica
71	Edvard Sokolovskij*	AG Dakar School	KTM 450 Rally
76	Jean-Loup Lepan	DUUST Rally Team	KTM 450 Rally Replica
77	Oran O’Kelly	Vendetta Racing UAE	KTM 450 Rally
80	Jack Murray*	Jack Murray	Husqvarna 450 Rally
81	Jacek Bartoszek*	MX Ride Dubai	Husqvarna 450 Rally
82	Sultan Al-Blooshi	MX Ride Dubai	Husqvarna 450 Rally
90	William McBride*	Vendetta Racing UAE	KTM 450 Rally Replica
91	Thomas Childs*	Vendetta Racing UAE	KTM 450 Rally
92	David Mabbs*	Vendetta Racing UAE	Husqvarna FR 450 Rally
93	David McBride	Vendetta Racing UAE	Husqvarna FR 450 Rally
94	Abdulla Lanjawi*	SRG Motorsports	Kove 450 Rally
95	Leo Conaboy*	Leo Conaboy	KTM 450 Rally
96	Tobias Ebster	SRG Motorsports	GasGas 450 Rally

Quad

Number	Rider	Team	Quad
172	Kamil Wiśniewski	ORLEN Team	Yamaha Raptor 700
173	Paweł Otwinowski*	DUUST Rally Team	Yamaha Raptor 700
174	Abdulaziz Ahli	Abu Dhabi Team	Yamaha Raptor 700
179	Hani Al-Noumesi	Hani Al-Noumesi	Yamaha Raptor 700
180	Hans Brehmer*	Hans Brehmer	Yamaha Raptor 700