The second round of the World Rally-Raid Championship, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, truly lived up to its name as teams battled through heat and mechanical issues over five stages.
Missed any of The Checkered Flag‘s coverage? Take a look below!
Pre-race stories
24 November 2022: 2023 Road to Dakar races include W2RC legs, South Africa 13 January: Ricky Brabec expects to return for Abu Dhabi after vertebrae injuries in Dakar 20 January: TCF‘s Dakar Rally newsroom 3 February: João Ferreira affirms W2RC T3 pursuit 16 February: Justin Gerlach making W2RC début in Abu Dhabi 16 February: Martin Macík Jr. forgoing Abu Dhabi, returning in Morocco 16 February: Mattias Ekstrom joins South Racing for Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge 18 February: 55 on W2RC entry list 21 February: T4 leader Eryk Goczał forgoing W2RC pursuit for studies 22 February: 2023 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge: Non-W2RC racers join the fight 22 February: Wrist injury sidelines Michael Docherty 23 February: Kevin Benavides to miss ADDC after breaking femur in testing 24 February: Sam Sunderland withdraws after broken ankle on final test day 25 February: Rebecca Busi unable to race due to organisational roadblocks 26 February: Travel situation keeps Oskar Andersson out 26 February: 5 stages of desert awaitMid-race stories
1 March: Red Bull Can-Am fined for missed W2RC registration paymentOverall winners
| Class | Number | Competitor | Team | Time | Recap |
| T1 | 207 | Yazeed Al-Rajhi | Overdrive Racing | 16:28:06 | Recap |
| T3 | 302 | Seth Quintero | Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team | 16:58:31 | Recap |
| T4 | 400 | Rokas Baciuška | Red Bull Can-Am Factory Racing | 17:25:47 | Recap |
| RallyGP | 42 | Adrien Van Beveren | Monster Energy Honda Rally Team | 17:13:39 | Recap |
| Rally2 | 96 | Tobias Ebster* | SRG Motorsports | 2:36:51 | Recap |
| Quad | 174 | Abdulaziz Ahli | Abu Dhabi Team | 22:01:51 | Recap |
Stage recaps
| Stage | Date | Overall Cars winner | Overall Bikes winner | Recap |
| Prologue | 26 February | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Pablo Quintanilla | Recap |
| 1 | 27 February | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Pablo Quintanilla | Recap |
| 2 | 28 February | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Luciano Benavides | Recap |
| 3 | 1 March | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Toby Price | Recap |
| 4 | 2 March | Sébastien Loeb | Luciano Benavides | Recap |
| 5 | 3 March | Henk Lategan | Toby Price | Recap |