2024 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge: Mansour Al-Helei beats Seaidan in SSV shootout

Mansour Al-Helei might not be competing for the World Rally-Raid Championship, but he was more than happy to put on a show for his fellow Emiratis on his home soil. Al-Helei and Yasir Seaidan, from neighbouring Saudi Arabia, squared off for the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge SSV victory, with Al-Helei narrowly coming out on top.

The margin between the two was as close as eighteen seconds at one point, when Seaidan won Stage #3 to take the overall lead from Al-Helei. Entering the final day, Al-Helei was clinging onto a 1:22 edge over Seaidan, a margin that could have been even closer had the latter not received seventy seconds in time penalties. Despite Seaidan’s efforts, he was unable to catch Al-Helei in Stage #5 as the gap nearly doubled. The 2:42 separating them was the closest final margin of victory among all six categories.

While coming up short, Seaidan being the top finisher among W2RC-eligible drivers gives him more of an advantage in the standings. He had also left the season-opening Dakar Rally as the best finishing championship competitor despite finishing third overall, and repeating this feat puts him nearly sixty points ahead of Sebastián Guayasamín, who joined him and Al-Helei on the outright podium. Rebecca Busi, who missed the 2023 ADDC due to logistical issues, notched her first career W2RC podium finish.

Abu Dhabi was the first race for Seaidan with Michaël Metge as navigator. He worked with his younger brother Adrien Metge at Dakar while Michaël finished runner-up there as the co-driver for Jérôme de Sadeleer, meaning the elder Metge is riding a two-race SSV runner-up streak.

Father and son duo Michele and Pietro Cinotto respectively finished fifth and ninth, the latter entering his first championship race outside of Dakar. Unlike his son, Michele is registered for points.

João Ferreira won the opening stage, but was disqualified a day later when he crashed on a dune and summoned his team to help diagnose the problem. Crews are forbidden from coming within a kilometre of their vehicle while it is on the Selective Section, resulting in him being one of two drivers getting the boot from the final order alongside Ultimate competitor Juan Cruz Yacopini for the same reason.

SSV overall results

Finish	Number	Driver	Co-Driver	Team	Time	Margin
1	411	Mansour Al-Helei*	Khalid Al-Kendi	Mansour Al-Helei	17:42:37	Leader
2	400	Yasir Seaidan	Michaël Metge	MMP Compétition	17:45:19	+ 2:42
3	403	Sebastián Guayasamín	Fernando Matias Acosta	FN Speed Team	18:18:49	+ 36:12
4	406	Rebecca Busi	Sergio Lafuente	OnlyFans Racing	19:11:52	+ 1:29:15
5	407	Michele Cinotto	Maurizio Dominella	Xtremeplus	20:40:12	+ 2:57:35
6	413	Justas Grendelis*	Simonas Ramanauskas	Albe Alliance Racing	21:29:06	+ 3:47:29
7	408	Claude Fournier	Serge Gounon	MMP Compétition	22:41:19	+ 4:58:42
8	410	Piotr Beaupre*	Jarosław Kazberuk	Piotr Beaupre	24:54:15	+ 7:11:38
9	414	Pietro Cinotto*	Szymon Gospodarczyk	Xtremeplus	33:57:32	+ 16:14:55
10	409	Robert Szustkowski*	Albert Gryszcuk	Robert Szustkowski	39:02:10	+ 21:19:33
11	405	Ricardo Ramilo	Fausto Mota	Scuderia Ramilo Rodamoto	40:50:30	+ 23:07:53
12	404	Enrico Gaspari	Alberto Marcon	TH-Trucks Team	42:20:03	+ 24:37:26
13	412	Atif Alzarouni*	Mohammed Hasan Innab	Atif Alzarouni	57:05:02	+ 39:22:25
DSQ	402	João Ferreira	Filipe Palmeiro	Can-Am Factory Team	DSQ	N/A

SSV stage winners

Stage	Driver	Time
Prologue	Mansour Al-Helei*	3:37.5
Stage #1	Mansour Al-Helei*	3:52:56
Stage #2	Yasir Seaidan	3:33:19
Stage #3	Yasir Seaidan	3:58:17
Stage #4	Mansour Al-Helei*	3:32:07
Stage #5	Mansour Al-Helei*	2:39:25

W2RC SSV standings

For readability, competitors registered for the championship who have not earned points are excluded.

Drivers’ standings

Rank	Driver	Points	Margin
1	Yasir Seaidan	146	Leader
2	Sebastián Guayasamín	87	– 59
3	Sara Price	74	– 72
4	João Ferreira	73	– 73
5	Cristiano de Sousa Batista	52	– 94
T-6	Rebecca Busi	45	– 101
T-6	Enrico Gaspari	45	– 101
8	Ricardo Ramilo	38	– 108
9	Michele Cinotto	22	– 124
10	Claude Fournier	19	– 127
11	Eduard Pons	16	– 130
12	André Thewessen	13	– 133

Co-drivers’ standings

Rank	Co-Driver	Points	Margin
1	Adrien Metge	91	Leader
2	Fernando Matias Acosta	87	– 4
3	Jeremy Gray	74	– 17
4	Filipe Palmeiro	73	– 18
5	Fausto Mota	69	– 22
6	Michaël Metge	55	– 36
7	Sergio Lafuente	45	– 46
8	Aku Facundo Jaton	31	– 60
9	Maurizio Dominella	22	– 69
10	Marc Solà Terradellas	21	– 70
11	Serge Gounon	19	– 72
12	Jaume Betriu	16	– 75
13	Alberto Marcon	14	– 77
14	Dmytro Tsyro	13	– 78