The World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) continues this week with the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. After the first stage, Michael Docherty is leading the standings.
In yesterday’s prologue, Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports) was the strongest, beating Docherty (SRG Motorsports) by two seconds. This Tuesday, the first stage took place, with 248km timed. Docherty set the pace, completing the course in 3h29m30s. Aaron Mare (Hero MotoSports) finished second, with Konrad Dabrowski (Duust Rally Team/KTM) completing the top three.
In the overall standings, Docherty leads with a 2m58s advantage over Mare, with Dabrowski in third, 8m18s behind. Tobias Ebster (SRT Motorsports/GasGas) and Jeanloup Lepan (Duust Rally Team/KTM) are fourth and fifth, respectively, with Branch in sixth, 28m18s off the top. Despite being a round of the W2RC, Hero MotoSports is the only one of the main factory teams present, with Honda, Husqvarna, KTM, and Sherco not in action.
