World Rally-Raid Championship

World Rally-Raid Championship RallyGP leader Kevin Benavides will miss the second round due to a broken femur during testing on Wednesday. Surgery went smoothly on Thursday.

Michael Docherty, who finished third in the Dakar Rally’s Rally2 class, will not run the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge due to lingering pain from a wrist injury sustained at Dakar.

The final 3 rounds of the FIM Baja World Cup have received new dates, with the Baja do Oeste now on 6–8 October and the Dubai International Baja swapping slots with the Jordan Baja.

From Dakar Rally T1 competitor Henk Lategan to snowmobile champion Tim Marklund, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge’s 100+ entry list includes a healthy dose of racers not vying for the World Rally-Raid Championship looking to play spoiler.

Despite winning the Dakar Rally to be the World Rally-Raid Championship T4 points leader, 18-year-old Eryk Goczał will not run the full season as he prepares for university.

55 comprise the pre-check grid for the second leg of the World Rally-Raid Championship in Abu Dhabi, with 30 in the FIA classes and 25 for the FIM.

Mattias Ekström will contest the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge for the first time, albeit in a T3 Can-Am for South Racing after running the Dakar Rally for Audi.

After finishing runner-up in T5 at the Dakar Rally, Martin Macík Jr. does not plan to run the next World Rally-Raid Championship round at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge but will enter the one after that at the Rallye du Maroc.

German amateur rider Justin Gerlach will compete in the World Rally-Raid Championship for the first time when he enters the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in Rally2.

Brazilian outfit X Rally Team will race the Prodrive Hunter T1+, which won 9 stages at the Dakar Rally, in 2023. One of their new Hunters was driven by Sébastien Loeb to 7 of the stage wins.

After a solid Dakar Rally in which he won a stage, reigning European Cross-Country Bajas champion João Ferreira confirmed he will race for the full World Rally-Raid Championship in T3 in 2023.

Reigning FIA Cross-Country Bajas World Champion and Dakar Rally contender Yazeed Al-Rajhi is skipping the 2023 season opener after suffering a hairline fracture in his right rib and costal cartilage while skiing.

Rebecca Busi will race for the World Rally-Raid Championship in 2023 in the T4 category beginning with the Dakar Rally.