2023 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge: Abdulaziz Ahli three-peats in Quads

Abdulaziz Ahli continued to solidify himself as the best FIM rider on four wheels at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge when he dominated the 2023 edition to win for an unprecedented third year in a row.

Ahli entered as the obvious favourite with his 2021 and 2022 ADDC victories—the only Quad rider with consecutive wins—and being the twice reigning Dubai Endurocross champion. He would score the most stage wins across all classes by taking five of the six legs including the Prologue.

The lone leg he failed to win was Stage #2 when Laisvydas Kancius beat him by just 1:55. However, Kancius and the other four riders in the class had already fallen behind after Ahli beat runner-up Rodolfo Guillioli by 24:24 after the first stage and they were unable to recover as Ahli rode off to more stage victories. Kancius had lost momentum in Stage #1 after receiving a penalty and running out of fuel.

Nevertheless, Kancius left Abu Dhabi as the World Rally-Raid Championship Quad points leader. Ahli, who did not run the season-opening Dakar Rally like Kancius, sits fourth.

“In general, I would evaluate the competition positively: I won one speed section, there was a fairly close fight on the track with Abdulaziz Ahli, who won the overall, when there were no disturbances, the pace was good, the four-wheeler was patient and reliable,” wrote Kancius on social media.

“One of the goals in this competition was to earn as many points as possible and to move up from third place in the overall standings. I succeeded – I currently have 44 points in my account and I have risen to the first place in the overall standings of the World Championship!”

CFMOTO team-mates Adomas Gančierius and Antanas Kanopkinas mostly rode together. The strategy bore mixed results that ranged from highs like finishing third and fourth in each of the final three legs to running out of gas while on the same dune in Stage #1. By the end, Gančierius was able to secure a podium.

“The whole rally, as its name suggests, is a real desert challenge,” said Kanopkinas, who finished fifth. “There were difficult moments, but overall everything is really very good. I would be happy to ride it again.

“All days we rode on bigger or smaller dunes and it allowed us to discover the strong and weak points of our technique. After covering so many kilometres, we discovered what improvements we need to make to the quads. We will now be even more prepared for (the) Dakar Rally.”

Guillioli’s ADDC was overshadowed by a three-hour penalty for making repairs in an unapproved location under marathon conditions, which requires competitors to work on their vehicles in a special “Work Park” area without outside assistance, in Stage #3. His quad broke down due to a spark plug issue later in the stage to further knock him down and he settled for fourth.

Paweł Otwinowski suffered a mechanical failure that prevented him from starting Stage #2, but was able to keep going afterwards and reached the finish.

While somewhat aided by the fact that there were only six riders, the Quads were the only category at the ADDC in which every entry completed the race.

Quad overall results

Finish	Number	Rider	Team	Time	Margin
1	174	Abdulaziz Ahli	Abu Dhabi Team	22:01:51	Leader
2	162	Laisvydas Kancius	AG Dakar School	23:07:33	+ 1:05:42
3	160	Adomas Gančierius	CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team	27:02:17	+ 5:00:26
4	165	Rodolfo Guillioli	Rodolfo Guillioli	27:54:27	+ 5:52:36
5	161	Antanas Kanopkinas	CFMOTO Thunder Racing Team	44:09:15	+ 22:07:24
6	164	Paweł Otwinowski*	DUUST Diverse Rally Racing	55:36:00	+ 33:34:09

* – Not competing in World Rally-Raid Championship

Quad stage winners

Stage	Number	Rider	Team	Time
Prologue	174	Abdulaziz Ahli	Abu Dhabi Team	47:36
Stage #1	174	Abdulaziz Ahli	Abu Dhabi Team	3:52:17
Stage #2	162	Laisvydas Kancius	AG Dakar School	4:21:45
Stage #3	174	Abdulaziz Ahli	Abu Dhabi Team	4:48:57
Stage #4	174	Abdulaziz Ahli	Abu Dhabi Team	4:52:48
Stage #5	174	Abdulaziz Ahli	Abu Dhabi Team	3:16:33

Overall winners

Class	Number	Competitor	Team	Time
T1	207	Yazeed Al-Rajhi	Overdrive Racing	16:28:06
T3	302	Seth Quintero	Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team	16:58:31
T4	400	Rokas Baciuška	Red Bull Can-Am Factory Racing	17:25:47
RallyGP	42	Adrien Van Beveren	Monster Energy Honda Rally Team	17:13:39
Rally2	96	Tobias Ebster*	SRG Motorsports	2:36:51
Quad	174	Abdulaziz Ahli	Abu Dhabi Team	22:01:51

W2RC Quad standings

Rank	Rider	Points	Margin
1	Laisvydas Kancius	44	Leader
2	Pablo Copetti	38	– 6
3	Juraj Varga	30	– 14
4	Abdulaziz Ahli	25	– 19
5	Carlos Alejandro Verza	20	– 24
6	Adomas Gančierius	16	– 28
7	Rodolfo Guillioli	13	– 31
8	Antonas Kanopkinas	11	– 33