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 |
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 |