FIA-FIM WORLD RALLY-RAID CHAMPIONSHIPS ABU DHABI DESERT CHALLENGE — ROUND 2
After 243km of the difficult first stage in the desert of the United Arab Emirates, the Brazilian opened the competition in a duel with the star Sebastien Loeb
Lucas Moraes was the protagonist of a very exciting duel against Frenchman Sebastien Loeb, considered one of the greatest rally drivers of all time, during the first of the five days of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, in the United Arab Emirates, the second stage of the World Rally Raid Championship. Aboard a Toyota GR DKR Hilux and navigated by Spaniard Armand Monleón, Moraes won the fight by just 1min01s over the Dacia SandRider of Loeb and Belgian navigator Fabian Lurquin. A nine-time world speed rally champion, Loeb has been fighting for his first major rally raid title in recent years, including the Dakar, in which he has been runner-up three times.
Moraes and Monleón completed Sunday's special stage (the section in which the participants compete against the clock) in 2h57min34s. Divided into six sections (at 33, 72, 107, 164, 205 and 243 kilometers), the race also featured the aggressiveness of today's leading desert racing specialist, Nasser Al-Attiyah, who took the lead from Moraes in the second section and held on to it in the following section, but was overtaken by the Brazilian in the remaining sections of the competition. Loeb, for his part, was a “shadow” for the Brazilian driver throughout the day, always staying close and positioning himself to take the lead if Moraes made any mistakes.
“I have a lot to learn” - ”It was fantastic to fight with someone like Loeb all day. It was also a very good feeling to start the World Championship again in the same way we ended the previous stage, which was the last day of the Dakar, with victory in the special,” said the Brazilian, who won the closing day of the world's biggest rally on January 17. “Today's result is very important for our team, which has been working hard to develop the car. The challenge here in Abu Dhabi will be tough until the end, especially as I still have a lot to learn when it comes to competing in the desert, particularly here, with very high dunes. But I'm confident. Today was the first step. Let's see how we do over the next four days,” summed up Moraes, who made his debut in the 2024 World Rally-Raid Championship with a third place overall.
Nasser Al-Attiyah from Santa Catarina and his Dacia SandRider, navigated by Frenchman Edouard Boulanger, finished the day in fourth place. The reigning Rally-Raid World Champion duo, who also won the Dakar 2025, Yasser Al-Rajhi (Saudi Arabia) and Timo Gottschalk (Germany), came 14th in their Toyota Overdrive.
The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge is in its 34th edition. On Monday, the competitors will contest the second stage, with 228km of timed sections. Having won on Sunday, Moraes and Monleón will start at the front, which is considered a major disadvantage in desert races due to the lack of references in the sands and two of the desert - there are no marks on the ground to help identify which way to go, as the crews receive the map of the day's section just 15 minutes before the start. The race concludes on Thursday (27), when the competitors will have covered a total of 1,186km (divided into five “specials”).
Automatic translation of the Portuguese version available on www.todoterreno.pt
Source: BestPR
