Fate, coincidences, and irony tend to work in mysterious ways. Yes, this also happens in rally raid.
The World Rally-Raid Championship took a surprising turn at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge when Dakar Rally winner Nasser Al-Attiyah crashed out of the third stage while leading, allowing Sébastien Loeb to maintain his points lead.
A month later, Loeb wrecked out at the Sonora Rally as the overall leader in Stage #3, which opened the door to Al-Attiyah to leapfrog him for the top spot in the standings.
Loeb looked to be in the catbird seat early on as he and his fellow Prodrive Hunters Guerlain Chicherit and series newcomers Marcos and Cristian Baumgart occupied much of the top five in Stage #2. The following leg, however, saw him crash into a dry river that he was following when its direction changed course while he was airbourne. The accident left a small fracture in co-driver Fabian Lurquin‘s right shoulder, ending their rally.
With Loeb out of the picture, the battle for the overall win came down to the Toyota Hiluxes of Al-Attiyah and Abu Dhabi victor Yazeed Al-Rajhi. Although Al-Rajhi won Stage #3, Al-Attiyah returned the favour the next day to increase his lead to 7:22 entering the fifth and final stage.
Al-Rajhi scored the Stage #5 victory, but Al-Attiyah finished behind him by just a minute. The duo’s 1-2 finish and Loeb’s retirement enabled them to leapfrog him in the championship picture; Al-Attiyah has a thirty-point gap on Al-Rajhi.
“To come here after our big crash in Abu Dhabi and try to defend our title by winning the race wasn’t easy, but we managed to lead from for most of the event,” said Al-Attiyah. “We also had an amazing fight with Sébastien Loeb and Yazeed Al-Rajhi, and I’m happy that we now have a big lead in the championship. Our GR DKR Hilux T1+ was back to full strength, and we had an amazing race.”
Sebastian Halpern joined the Hiluxes on the overall podium for his best W2RC finish and the highest for the Mini John Cooper Works since Jakub Przygoński at the 2022 ADDC. Halpern. He beat his Mini team-mate Denis Krotov by eleven minutes.
Loeb’s retirement, along with Chicherit’s mechanical failure two days later, marred what would have otherwise been a strong outing for Prodrive. The Buamgart brothers finished seventh and ninth in their W2RC débuts, and Marcos was able to score another podium in Stage #4 when he finished third (he had placed second but was bumped down a spot due to penalties).
T1 overall results
| Finish | Number | Driver | Co-Driver | Team | Time | Margin |
| 1 | 201 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Mathieu Baumel | Toyota Gazoo Racing | 10:29:55 | Leader |
| 2 | 202 | Yazeed Al-Rajhi | Timo Gottschalk | Overdrive Racing | 10:36:17 | + 6:22 |
| 3 | 205 | Sebastian Halpern | Bernardo Graue | X-raid Team | 10:44:13 | + 14:18 |
| 4 | 208 | Denis Krotov | Konstantin Zhiltsov | X-raid Team | 10:55:43 | + 25:48 |
| 5 | 203 | Juan Cruz Yacopini | Daniel Oliveras | Overdrive Racing | 11:01:30 | + 31:35 |
| 6 | 206 | Guoyu Zhang | Oriol Mena | BAIC ORV | 11:01:43 | + 31:48 |
| 7 | 210 | Cristian Baumgart* | Alberto Andreotti | X Rally Team | 11:42:21 | + 1:12:26 |
| 8 | 207 | Yunliang Zi | He Sha | BAIC ORV | 11:54:03 | + 1:24:08 |
| 9 | 211 | Marcos Baumgart* | Kleber Cincea | X Rally Team | 11:55:11 | + 1:25:16 |
| 10 | 209 | Eugenio Amos* | Paolo Ceci | Overdrive Racing | 23:18:23 | + 12:48:28 |
| 11 | 204 | Guerlain Chicherit | Alex Winocq | GCK Motorsport | 28:58:40 | + 18:28:45 |
| DNF | 200 | Sébastien Loeb | Fabian Lurquin | Bahrain Raid Xtreme | DNF | N/A |
T1 stage winners
| Stage | Driver | Time |
| Prologue | Yazeed Al-Rajhi | 5:18 |
| Stage #1 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | 1:32:06 |
| Stage #2 | Sébastien Loeb | 1:28:28 |
| Stage #3 | Yazeed Al-Rajhi | 3:27:22 |
| Stage #4 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | 2:40:34 |
| Stage #5 | Yazeed Al-Rajhi | 1:13:45 |
Overall winners
| Class | Number | Competitor | Team | Time |
| T1 | 201 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | Toyota Gazoo Racing | 10:29:55 |
| T3 | 302 | Mitch Guthrie | Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team | 11:17:24 |
| T4 | 400 | Rokas Baciuška | Red Bull Can-Am Factory Racing | 11:51:05 |
| RallyGP | 18 | Daniel Sanders | Red Bull GasGas Factory Racing | 11:01:09 |
| Rally2 | 17 | Romain Dumontier | HT Rally Raid Husqvarna Racing | 11:48:21 |
| Rally3 | 57 | Massimo Camurri | Freedom Rally Racing | 15:59:16 |
| Quad | 162 | Laisvydas Kancius | AG Dakar School | 15:33:14 |
| National Car/UTV | 605 | Sara Price* | SP Motorsports | 17:14:04 |
| National Enduro | 513 | Brendan Crow* | Brendan Crow | 16:37:36 |
| National Malle Moto | 501 | Matt Sutherland* | Matt Sutherland | 18:24:08 |
W2RC standings
Unlike T3 and T4, T1 does not have its own standings and instead uses a championship in which the aforementioned categories can also earn points based on their finishes among all FIA W2RC entries.
Drivers’ standings
| Rank | Driver | Points | Margin |
| 1 | Nasser Al-Attiyah | 136 | Leader |
| 2 | Yazeed Al-Rajhi | 106 | – 30 |
| 3 | Sébastien Loeb | 101 | – 35 |
| 4 | Sebastian Halpern | 74 | – 62 |
| 5 | Juan Cruz Yacopini | 69 | – 67 |
| 6 | Martin Prokop | 64 | – 72 |
| 7 | Guerlain Chicherit | 55 | – 81 |
| 8 | Mattias Ekström # | 49 | – 87 |
| 9 | Seth Quintero | 32 | – 104 |
| T-10 | Wei Han | 31 | – 105 |
| T-10 | Guoyu Zhang | 31 | – 105 |
| 12 | Austin Jones | 30 | – 106 |
| 13 | Rokas Baciuška | 24 | – 112 |
| T-14 | Denis Krotov | 22 | – 114 |
| T-14 | Mathieu Serradori | 22 | – 114 |
| 16 | Mitch Guthrie | 14 | – 122 |
| T-17 | Pau Navarro | 9 | – 127 |
| T-17 | Zi Yunliang | 9 | – 127 |
| 19 | Eryk Goczał | 8 | – 128 |
| 20 | Cristina Gutiérrez | 7 | – 129 |
| T-21 | Aliyyah Koloc | 6 | – 130 |
| T-21 | João Ferreira | 6 | – 130 |
| 23 | Jean-Luc Ceccaldi | 5 | – 131 |
| T-24 | Francisco Lopéz Contardo | 4 | – 132 |
| T-24 | Marek Goczał | 4 | – 132 |
| 26 | Claude Fournier | 3 | – 133 |
| 27 | David Zille | 2 | – 134 |
Italics – T3 entry
Underscore – T4 entry
Co-drivers’ standings
| Rank | Co-Driver | Driver | Points | Margin |
| 1 | Mathieu Baumel | Nasser Al-Attiyah | 136 | Leader |
| 2 | Fabian Lurquin | Sébastien Loeb | 101 | – 35 |
| 3 | Timo Gottschalk | Yazeed Al-Rajhi | 87 | – 49 |
| 4 | Bernardo Graue | Sebastian Halpern | 74 | – 62 |
| 5 | Dani Oliveiras | Juan Cruz Yacopini | 69 | – 67 |
| 6 | Viktor Chytka | Martin Prokop | 64 | – 72 |
| 7 | Alex Winocq | Guerlain Chicherit | 55 | – 81 |
| 8 | Emil Bergkvist # | Mattias Ekström # | 49 | – 87 |
| 9 | Dennis Zenz | Seth Quintero | 32 | – 104 |
| 10 | Ma Li | Wei Han | 31 | – 105 |
| 11 | Gustavo Gugelmin | Austin Jones | 30 | – 106 |
| 12 | Oriol Mena # | Eryk Goczał, Guoyu Zhang | 29 | – 107 |
| 13 | Oriol Vidal Montijano | Rokas Baciuška | 24 | – 112 |
| T-14 | Konstantin Zhiltsov | Denis Krotov | 22 | – 114 |
| T-14 | Loïc Minaudier | Mathieu Serradori | 22 | – 114 |
| 16 | Dirk von Zitzewitz | Yazeed Al-Rajhi | 19 | – 117 |
| 17 | Kellon Walch | Mitch Guthrie | 14 | – 122 |
| 18 | Jean-Pierre Garcin | Guoyu Zhang | 10 | – 126 |
| T-19 | François Cazalet # | Guillaume de Mévius, Pau Navarro | 9 | – 127 |
| T-19 | Sha He | Zi Yunliang | 9 | – 127 |
| 21 | Pablo Moreno Huete | Cristina Gutiérrez | 7 | – 129 |
| T-22 | Stéphane Duple | Aliyyah Koloc | 6 | – 130 |
| T-22 | Filipe Palmeiro | João Ferreira | 6 | – 130 |
| 24 | Cédric Duplé | Jean-Luc Ceccaldi | 5 | – 131 |
| T-25 | Juan Pablo Latrach | Francisco López Contardo | 4 | – 132 |
| T-25 | Maciej Marton | Marek Goczał | 4 | – 132 |
| 27 | Szymon Gospodarczyk # | Michal Goczał, Claude Fournier | 3 | – 133 |
| 28 | Sebastian Cesana | David Zille | 2 | – 134 |