FIA: Three-peat for Nasser Al Attiyah
Nasser Al Attiyah took the prologue for the third season in a row. No matter the car, the winner has remained the same since 2023. The three-time world champion has won with three different T1+ machines (Toyota Hilux, BRX Hunter and now Dacia Sandrider). The Qatari set a time of 6′23″ to beat Lucas Moraes in his Hilux (+5″) and Sébastien Loeb (+9″), putting both Dacia factory drivers on the podium of the day. Meanwhile, Eryk Goczał (Overdrive Racing) made an impressive W2RC Ultimate debut, securing 5th place (+13″). His new teammate, the world championship leader Yazeed Al Rajhi, could only manage 9th (+19″). This was Al Attiyah‘s 41st career W2RC victory and Dacia’s 3rd win in as many races. His result gave him the luxury of choosing his starting position last for stage 1. He will be rolling off 16th, while Denis Krotov (Overdrive Racing) will have the unenviable task of opening the road.
CHALLENGER: Khalifa Al Attiyah steps out of his brother’s shadow
Khalifa Al Attiyah claimed victory in the Challenger prologue, setting the 17th fastest time overall, 42 seconds behind his older brother. It was the younger Al Attiyah’s maiden W2RC win and the first sibling double in the history of the championship! Khalifa is the second Qatari racer to secure a W2RC win, after his brother. He topped the prologue ahead of the Saudi duo of Dania Akeel (+13″) and Yasir Seaidan (+16″), sealing a dominant 1-2-3 for the BBR team and the Middle East. What a debut in the Challenger class!
SSVs: The usual suspects
The local favourite and championship rookie Mansour El Helei initially set the fastest time in the prologue, only to receive a 2-minute penalty for missing a waypoint. That handed the victory to Enrico Gaspari, who claimed his 3rd W2RC win. He led home fellow Italian Michele Cinotto (Xtreme Plus Polaris), while the 73-year-old veteran Claude Fournier rounded out the podium. The young guns will have to wait their turn!
FIM: Putting the “pro” in “prologue”
When it comes to prologues, Tosha Schareina leaves the opposition fighting for scraps! Since his W2RC debut in 2024, the Spaniard has won every single prologue except for the 2025 Dakar opener. After prevailing at the Dakar, BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal, Desafío Ruta 40 and Rallye du Maroc last season, the fastest gun in the East added the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge to his growing collection of prologue victories —and in his first appearance in the race, to boot. KTM’s Luciano Benavides (second at 4″) and Daniel Sanders (fifth at 17″), Honda’s Ricky Brabec (third at 13″) and Skyler Howes (sixth at 19″), and Hero’s Ross Branch (fourth at 16″) all finished within 20 seconds of the first leader of the rally. The fastest rider made the obvious call to start 10th on Sunday, enabling him to capitalise on the tracks left by the nine riders ahead of him.
RALLY 2: Good things come in threes
Michael Docherty lives in Dubai, so he is in his element at the ADDC. He won the prologue outright in 2022 and set the fastest Rally2 time last year. Today, the South African made it a hat-trick, edging out the defending champion, Konrad Dąbrowski (Duust Rally), who will be opening the road tomorrow, and the Chilean Ruy Barbosa (Xraids Experience), the 2018 Youth Enduro World Champion, a fresh face in rally raids. His 18th career win makes Docherty the third most prolific Rally2 rider ever, moving past Mason Klein (17). Bradley Cox (23) and Romain Dumontier (25) are now in his sights.
QUADS: Martinez opens his account
After winning every special except for the prologue in 2024, Abdulaziz Ahli was determined to claim the 11 km sprint, but a navigation error left the local hero trailing 3′55″ behind Gaëtan Martinez. The Frenchman took his first-ever W2RC victory, also the first for the third-generation Chinese quad CForce 1000.