The World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) continues this week with the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. After the first stage, Michael Docherty is leading the standings.
In yesterday’s prologue, Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports) emerged as the strongest, edging out Docherty (SRG Motorsports) by two seconds. On Tuesday, the first stage took place, covering 248km of special section. Docherty set the pace, completing the route in 3h29m30s. Aaron Mare (Hero MotoSports) secured second place, with Konrad Dabrowski (Duust Rally Team/KTM) rounding out the top three.
In the overall standings, Docherty leads with a 2m58s gap over Mare, while Dabrowski holds third place, trailing by 8m18s. Tobias Ebster (SRT Motorsports/GasGas) and Jeanloup Lepan (Duust Rally Team/KTM) occupy fourth and fifth positions, respectively. Branch sits in sixth place, trailing the leader by 28m18s. Despite being a round of the W2RC, Hero MotoSports is the only major factory team present, with Honda, Husqvarna, KTM, and Sherco not in action.
