At the Dakar Rally to begin the 2023 World Rally-Raid Championship, Austin Jones beat his Red Bull team-mate Seth Quintero for victory in the T3 category. Slightly less than two months later, Quintero got to return the favour at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.
Quintero won three stages including the Prologue to score his second W2RC victory after the 2022 Rallye du Maroc. His total time of 16:58:31 was the third best among all FIA entries regardless of class, only behind the T1 cars of Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Martin Prokop by half an hour.
Jones ran directly behind Quintero in the first two legs before mechanical issues caused him to lose time in the midway point, including an eighth-place finish in Stage #3. He would finish over twenty-seven minutes behind his fellow American Red Bull driver. Jones finished eighth overall for FIA cars.
While he and Jones are split in overall victories and Dakar has a bigger points payout, Quintero holds the edge by five in the standings thanks to his five combined stage wins across the first two rounds. Jones’ lone segment victory of 2023 so far came in the third day at Dakar.
“Really tough race with a few issues but good times as always in the sand out there,” said Jones, who along with Quintero and their co-drivers will return to the United States this weekend for the legendary Mint 400. “Happy to finish on the podium.”
Aliyyah Koloc, competing in her home W2RC race, finished third championship-eligible drivers. With the exception of a thirteenth in Stage #4, Koloc scored top tens in each leg and beat Jean-Luc Ceccaldi for the final spot on the W2RC podium by nearly two minutes. The reigning FIA Middle East Cup for Cross-Country Bajas champion, she had told The Checkered Flag in December that she might consider but did not necessarily confirm a run at the full W2RC; she now sits ninth after the second round.
“It was great to finish third out of the W2RC runners,” Koloc stated. “I did not expect to get a podium finish coming into this rally, but I am really happy.”
Although Hernán Garcés and Lionel Baud finished ahead of Koloc in the overall, neither are competing for points. Mitch Guthrie, another member of the American-only Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team, won two stages but placed outside the top ten overall due to multiple penalties.
Mattias Ekström, who ran the Dakar Rally in T1, had a roller coaster of a T3 début in which he flipped between strong stage finishes or bizarre misfortune. His rally began with an eighth in the Prologue after accidentally switching his Can-Am Maverick to its 2×4 configuration rather than 4×4, followed by running out of fuel in Stage #1. He bounced back by being the only non-Red Bull driver with a stage victory in Stage #2, only to suffer an enigne failure a day later that knocked him out of the overall. Ekström switched to a new engine ahead of the fourth stage, which he won but was not officially classified as such as the engine change resulted in a fifty-hour penalty for the day. A runner-up in the final leg did little in the overall as he finished last among the seventeen finishers.
Ekström’s South Racing colleague and fellow Swede Tim Marklund was also not safe from an up-and-down ADDC. Even before it began, his co-driver Oskar Andersson was unable to make the trip to the United Arab Emirates due to passport snags and ended up spending the week vacationing in Thailand. With Alexey Kuzmich by his side, Marklund battled various mechanical issues before flipping on a dune in the final stage and missing multiple waypoints as a result, but managed to reach the finish.
Despite the Red Bulls enjoying an overall strong ADDC, they were not exempt from drama either. Shortly before the rally, the team was subject to an FIA investigation that ended in a €1,000 fine for not completing their W2RC entry payments before the 1 February deadline. Cristina Gutiérrez, who races for the programme’s Red Bull Can-Am Factory Racing arm and finished second in class at the 2022 ADDC, received three penalties totalling over seventy-seven hours due to a non-compliant air restrictor in her car’s engine, though delays in the hearing caused it to take place after she had started Stage #4; the ruling was effectively void when Gutiérrez retired anyway with a mechanical failure.
Dania Akeel was disqualfied for the same infraction after Stage #4 after the FIA found her restrictor had scratches that extended beyond the permitted 27-mm inner diameter. While the team insisted it was unintentional, Akeel would ultimately be the lone disqualification of the ADDC.
“I’d like to thank the team for their hard work and respect the stewards’ decision as the regulations keep the game fair for all,” commented Akeel. “The appropriate steps will be taken to have the car race ready. I’d also like to thank the sponsors for their trust and commitment to this season. Looking forward to the next round.”
T3 overall results
| Finish | Number | Driver | Co-Driver | Team | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 302 | Seth Quintero | Dennis Zens | Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team | 16:58:31 | Leader |
| 2 | 301 | Austin Jones | Gustavo Gugelmin | Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team | 17:26:16 | + 27:45 |
| 3 | 314 | Hernán Garcés* | Juan Pablo Latrach | South Racing Can-Am | 17:54:59 | + 56:28 |
| 4 | 319 | Lionel Baud* | Lucie Baud | GRallyTeam | 18:26:29 | + 1:27:58 |
| 5 | 310 | Aliyyah Koloc | Stéphane Duplé | Buggyra Racing | 19:20:09 | + 2:21:38 |
| 6 | 317 | Khalid Aljafla* | Bruno Jacomy | Khalid Aljafla | 19:49:59 | + 2:51:28 |
| 7 | 320 | Anja van Loon* | Floor Maten | South Racing Can-Am | 20:52:29 | + 3:53:58 |
| 8 | 306 | Jean-Luc Ceccaldi | Cédric Duplé | Jean-Luc Ceccaldi | 21:13:55 | + 4:15:24 |
| 9 | 308 | Claude Fournier | Szymon Gospodarczyk | Claude Fournier | 22:33:26 | + 5:34:55 |
| 10 | 305 | João Ferreira | Flilipe Palmeiro | X-raid Team | 34:03:43 | + 17:05:12 |
| 11 | 303 | Mitch Guthrie | Kellon Walch | Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team | 35:31:32 | + 18:33:01 |
| 12 | 315 | Eduardo Pons* | Mónica Plaza | South Racing Can-Am | 38:53:49 | + 21:55:18 |
| 13 | 311 | Erik van Loon | Sebastien Delaunay | South Racing Can-Am | 39:12:22 | + 22:13:51 |
| 14 | 313 | Annett Fischer | Annie Seel | X-raid Team | 41:06:16 | + 24:07:45 |
| 15 | 322 | Tim Marklund* | Alexey Kuzmich | South Racing Can-Am | 54:07:50 | + 37:09:19 |
| 16 | 324 | Hassan Al-Sadadi* | Bader Al-Ajmi | R-X Sport | 66:28:57 | + 49:30:26 |
| 17 | 300 | Mattias Ekström | Emil Bergkvist | South Racing Can-Am | 91:27:40 | + 74:29:09 |
| DNF | 304 | Cristina Gutiérrez | Pablo Moreno Huete | Red Bull Can-Am Factory Racing | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 318 | Nazar Al-Shanfari* | Ali Mirza | R-X Sport | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 321 | Glenn Brinkman* | Dale Moscatt | Glenn Brinkman | DNF | N/A |
| DNF | 323 | Yungang Zi* | Zengrong Wang | GRallyTeam/BAIC ORV | DNF | N/A |
| DSQ | 309 | Dania Akeel | Taye Perry | South Racing Can-Am | DSQ | N/A |
T3 stage winners
| Stage | Number | Driver | Team | Time |
| Prologue | 302 | Seth Quintero | Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team | 5:14 |
| Stage #1 | 302 | Seth Quintero | Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team | 3:28:31 |
| Stage #2 | 300 | Mattias Ekström | South Racing Can-Am | 3:52:09 |
| Stage #3 | 303 | Mitch Guthrie | Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team | 4:06:33 |
| Stage #4 | 302 | Seth Quintero | Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team | 2:36:55 |
| Stage #5 | 303 | Mitch Guthrie | Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team | 2:42:56 |
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 T3 standings
Drivers’ standings
| Rank | Driver | Points | Margin |
| 1 | Seth Quintero | 127 | Leader |
| 2 | Austin Jones | 122 | – 5 |
| 3 | Mitch Guthrie | 81 | – 46 |
| 4 | Francisco López Contardo | 55 | – 72 |
| 5 | Cristina Gutiérrez | 52 | – 75 |
| 6 | João Ferreira | 51 | – 76 |
| 7 | Jean-Luc Ceccaldi | 41 | – 86 |
| 8 | Claude Fournier | 35 | – 92 |
| 9 | Aliyyah Koloc | 34 | – 93 |
| 10 | David Zille | 24 | – 103 |
| 11 | Hélder Rodrigues | 22 | – 105 |
| 12 | Mattias Ekström | 16 | – 111 |
| 13 | Dania Akeel | 15 | – 112 |
| 14 | Erik van Loon | 13 | – 114 |
| 15 | Annett Fischer | 11 | – 116 |
Co-drivers’ standings
| Rank | Co-Driver | Driver | Points | Margin |
| 1 | Dennis Zenz | Seth Quintero | 127 | Leader |
| 2 | Gustavo Gugelmin | Austin Jones | 122 | – 5 |
| 3 | Kellon Walch | Mitch Guthrie | 81 | – 46 |
| 4 | Juan Pablo Latrach | Francisco López Contardo | 55 | – 72 |
| 5 | Pablo Moreno Huete | Cristina Gutiérrez | 52 | – 75 |
| 6 | Filipe Palmeiro | João Ferreira | 51 | – 76 |
| 7 | Cédric Duplé | Jean-Luc Ceccaldi | 41 | – 86 |
| 8 | Stéphane Duple | Aliyyah Koloc | 34 | – 93 |
| 9 | Sebastián Cesana | David Zille | 24 | – 103 |
| 10 | Gonçalo Reis | Hélder Rodrigues | 22 | – 105 |
| 11 | Arnold Brucy | Claude Fournier | 20 | – 107 |
| 12 | Emil Bergkvist | Mattias Ekström | 16 | – 111 |
| T-13 | Szymon Gospodarczyk | Claude Fournier | 15 | – 112 |
| T-13 | Sergio Lafuente | Dania Akeel | 15 | – 112 |
| 15 | Sébastien Delaunay | Erik van Loon | 13 | – 114 |
| 16 | Annie Seel | Annett Fischer | 11 | – 116 |