2023 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge: Tobias Ebster punches Dakar 2024 ticket with Rally2 win

In 1995, Heinz Kinigadner won the inaugural Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge Bike overall. Twenty-eight years later, his nephew Tobias Ebster can call himself an ADDC champion too.

Despite not racing for the World Rally-Raid Championship and being rather new to the sport of rally raid, Ebster is already a winner after beating back W2RC contenders Jean-Loup Lepan and Paolo Lucci for the ADDC’s Rally2 overall. Ebster, a motocross and enduro rider whose most recent cross-country foray was the 2022 FIM Bajas World Cup finale in Dubai, is now eligible for the 2024 Dakar Rally as the best finisher of nine riders in the Road to Dakar programme intended for amateur hoping to run the legendary event for the first time.

The Austrian set the tone from the get-go by winning his class in the Prologue, and continued his momentum through the five stages as he was never outside the podium; even a crash and clutch failure in Stage #1 still ended with a third-place finish. Although Lucci quickly took the overall lead by winning three legs in a row, a dislocated wrist and wiring problem in Stage #4 virtually doomed his prospects. Lepan won that stage to become the new leader entering the final day with Ebster breathing down his neck as the two were separated by just forty-three seconds.

Ebster delivered the finishing blow when he won the last stage by 3:20 on Lepan. While short of the overall, Lepan was top performer among W2RC competitors and also claimed the Junior Trophy for riders under twenty-five years of age for the second straight round. Alex McInnes and Justin Gerlach, the latter a newcomer to the W2RC, also completed the race in the Junior Trophy.

“To stand on the top step of the podium today is simply incredible when you consider that this is my first world championship, first official desert rally, and I have been on a rally bike exactly five times before I started this race,” said Ebster.

Despite settling for third, Lucci’s three stage wins along with his runner-up in Dakar placed him in the Rally2 lead ahead of Lepan by five points. Dakar winner Romain Dumontier elected to skip Abu Dhabi and fell to third in the standings, though Rally2 riders are permitted to drop one round from their championship total. Michael Docherty, third in points after Dakar, missed the ADDC for a wrist injury he sustained in the opener.

Vincent Biau rounded out the overall top ten as the best Malle Moto finisher, or competitors racing without any outside assistance. Four riders competed as Malle Moto entries with Hamdan Al-Ali and Jon Florea also making the finish. Florea endured a particularly brutal ADDC in which he tore a ligament in his left shoulder in Stage #1 which sidelined him until the penultimate day, during which he became pinned underneath his bike after getting stuck on a steep dune before being rescued by the T3 duo of Dania Akeel and former Dakar bike rider Taye Perry. Andrei Danila, a close friend of Florea and fellow Malle Moto rider, crashed on the final leg and broke a collarbone and three ribs.

“On one hand, I am happy to have managed to get back into the race despite my accident, pleased that I finished what I started. On the other hand, I am aware that my overall performance in this race will work against my Dakar24 qualifier,” wrote Florea in a race debrief. “To know that my buddy is in hospital and not with me, celebrating his first desert race finish, is another dark cloud hanging over this! But I’m sure that time will heal our physical and emotional wounds, and that we will both come back stronger and more motivated than ever!”

Four riders did not make the finish including Konrad Dąbrowski, whose poor luck with his health continued when he exited in Stage #4 because of back pain that had been lingering since the start of the rally due to poor suspension in his bike. He missed Dakar due to appendicitis days before the race, while his fourth-place run in the 2022 Rally2 championship was hindered by the effects of COVID-19. Alissa Harkin, the lone female rider in the class, was also among the retirements.

Rally2 overall results

Finish	Number	Rider	Team	Time	Margin
1	96	Tobias Ebster*	SRG Motorsports	18:41:50	Leader
2	76	Jean-Loup Lepan	DUUST Diverse Rally Racing Team	18:44:27	+ 2:37
3	46	Paolo Lucci	BAS World KTM Racing Team	18:52:52	+ 11:02
4	53	Toni Mulec	BAS World KTM Racing Team	19:27:29	+ 45:39
5	54	Bruno Santos*	Bruno Santos	22:10:47	+ 3:28:57
6	21	Alex McInnes*	MotoZone Racing	22:53:50	+ 4:12:00
7	68	David McBride*	Vendetta Racing UAE	22:57:37	+ 4:15:47
8	67	Oran O’Kelly*	Vendetta Racing UAE	23:21:09	+ 4:39:19
9	88	Modestas Siliunas*	AG Dakar School	23:45:31	+ 5:03:41
10	44	Vincent Biau*	Vincent Biau	23:53:25	+ 5:11:35
11	34	Ashish Raorane*	Xraids Experience	25:09:05	+ 6:27:15
12	45	Yoshio Ikemachi*	BAS World KTM Racing Team	25:37:33	+ 6:55:43
13	33	Pierre Saeys*	HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing	25:55:34	+ 7:13:44
14	31	Weston Carr*	HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing	28:40:53	+ 9:59:03
15	39	Benjamin Melot*	Benjamin Melot	31:14:26	+ 12:32:36
16	40	Mark Davidson*	Mark Davidson	31:17:21	+ 12:35:31
17	32	Ganzorig Chuluun*	HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing	33:11:29	+ 14:29:39
18	58	Gediminas Satkus*	AG Dakar School	33:38:32	+ 14:56:42
19	35	Dominique Cizeau Girault	Xraids Experience	35:09:41	+ 16:27:51
20	27	Marwan Al-Rahmani*	MX Ride Dubai	36:08:52	+ 17:27:02
21	26	Sultan Al-Baloosh*	MX Ride Dubai	36:58:02	+ 18:16:12
22	38	Justin Gerlach*	Justin Gerlach	43:16:17	+ 24:34:27
23	28	Hamdan Al-Ali*	Hamdan Al-Ali	61:52:00	+ 43:10:10
24	69	David Mabbs*	Vendetta Racing UAE	84:50:49	+ 66:08:59
25	92	Jon Florea	Jon Florea	104:51:41	+ 86:09:51
DNF	23	Konrad Dąbrowski	DUUST Diverse Rally Racing Team	DNF	N/A
DNF	29	Alissa Harkin*	HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing	DNF	N/A
DNF	43	Darren Goodman*	Darren Goodman	DNF	N/A
DNF	93	Andrei Danila	Andrei Danila	DNF	N/A

* – Not competing in World Rally-Raid Championship
Italics – Malle Moto entry
Underscore – Road to Dakar entry

Rally2 stage winners

Stage	Number	Rider	Team	Time
Prologue	96	Tobias Ebster*	SRG Motorsports	42:56
Stage #1	46	Paolo Lucci	BAS World KTM Racing Team	3:14:07
Stage #2	46	Paolo Lucci	BAS World KTM Racing Team	3:36:06
Stage #3	46	Paolo Lucci	BAS World KTM Racing Team	3:51:22
Stage #4	76	Jean-Loup Lepan	DUUST Diverse Rally Racing Team	4:09:58
Stage #5	96	Tobias Ebster*	SRG Motorsports	2:36:51

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 Rally2 standings

Rank	Rider	Points	Margin
1	Paolo Lucci	50	Leader
2	Jean-Loup Lepan	45	– 5
3	Romain Dumontier	38	– 12
4	Toni Mulec	30	– 20
5	Michael Docherty	24	– 26
6	Mathieu Dovèze	17	– 33
7	Jacob Argubright	15	– 35
8	Dominique Cizeau Girault	13	– 37
9	Jan Brabec	12	– 38
T-10	Jon Florea	11	– 39
T-10	Mirjam Pol	11	– 39