2024 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge: Crashes plague Stage 2

Stage #1 of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge was supposed to be the toughest of the five legs, but Stage #2 on Wednesday ended up being the gauntlet that claimed many contenders.

It did not take long for competitors to fall when Michael Docherty, the first Rally2 rider to win a World Rally-Raid Championship bike stage outright since 2021 under its predecessor, crashed just five kilometres after the start and fractured his pelvis. Aaron Marè and Konrad Dąbrowski stopped to provide assistance, respectively earning them 29:48 and 24:39 in time credits. This came in handy for both as they locked out the top two positions, with Marè leapfrogging from sixth to first.

“One of my best friends Michael Docherty suffered a big crash and I stopped to help him out along the medics and the helicopter support. It was quite tough for me to continue the day as my mind was heavy and worried about him,” Marè, a fellow South African who finished behind Docherty in Stage #1, commented. “However, I tried my best to focus on the roadbook and getting back into a good rhythm, avoiding any mistakes. Thankfully the stage went well, and I’m happy with my result.”

Marè’s team-mate Ross Branch set the fastest time but officially finished fourth due to a fifteen-minute penalty for changing engines between stages.

Dąbrowski’s runner-up and Docherty’s exit also moves the former into the Rally2 overall lead. Tobias Ebster, another Rally2 favourite, also retired from the race after hurting his right arm in a crash on Tuesday; while initial evaluations did not indicate any breaks, he struggled to hold the throttle handle while on the Stage #3 liaison section.

Ebster’s friend Justin Gerlach crashed twice starting forty kilometres in when he hit a loose sand patch, sending him over the bars. The second occurred at the 100-km mark when his vision was obscured by sand from a rider ahead of him and he was unable to see the incoming dune; the front wheel dug into the sand, launching him and his bike forward and tumbling down the dune. Gerlach managed to avoid injury and finished twenty-sixth in class.

A hard landing also took out Guillaume de Mévius, the FIA runner-up in Stage #1, when he suffered a vertebra compression upon impacting the bottom of a dune at KM 20. His team-mate Guerlain Chicherit stepped up in his place and held off yesterday’s winner Nasser Al-Attiyah for the stage win. Seth Quintero, a Toyota Hilux driver like Chicherit, edged out Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Lucas Moraes by a minute and a half for his second career Ultimate podium after Stage #2 at the Dakar Rally.

Elsewhere in Ultimate, Martin Prokop‘s driveshaft broke and left him stuck in the sand at KM 218. The side-by-sides weren’t safe from drama either as Laia Sanz, third in Challenger on Tuesday, had a mechanial issue that cost her half an hour and sank her to fifth. Stage #1 SSV winner João Ferreira crashed on a dune and was forced to retire; he was subsequently disqualified for using a satellite phone outside the car and summoning his crew to the scene despite rules forbidding them from being too close to the vehicle in a Selective Section.

Austin Jones and Rokas Baciuška finished 1–2 for the second day in a row in Challenger. Yasir Seaidan won the SSV stage ahead of Mansour Al-Helei, the latter now the overall leader in the class.

Stage #2 winners

Leaders after Stage #2