Words By: Ian Ganderton
The 2015 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge was the 25th edition of this epic motorsport adventure race and my first attempt at participating. As the first round of the 2015 FIM Cross Country Rallies World Championship and the FIA Cross Country Rally World Cup, it is a key international motorsport event that draws the world’s best riders and drivers from all over the globe in one place.
There are also a lot of participants like me pitting themselves against one of the most extreme environments on the planet and against the world’s best in motorsport to see how they shape up.
Day 1 – 262km Yas Marina Circuit Special Stage
The first day takes the competitors from Yas Marina Circuit down to the bivouac next to Qasr Al Sarab at the edge of the Liwa Crescent. Of the five days this is the one I worried about most. It’s the first day of the event and it involves gatch/sand tracks and the fast, open desert that is punctuated by technical drops that can catch the unwary and end their event just as it has begun.
I stuck to my game plan and had a steady day making good time up until PC3 and the last quarter of the stage where I experienced some fuelling issues. This lead to me getting stuck in a hole and fighting for an energy-sapping 30 minutes to get out and then limping my bike to the finish line with a time of 4hrs 50mins.
At the front of the bikes leg was 2014 World Champion and Dakar winner, Marc Coma stamping his authority on the event with a time of 3:12:54 2 minutes in front of local hero and fellow KTM team mate Sam Sunderland. Paulo Goncalves for Honda was 3rd.
In the cars category, the Emirati team of Yahya Al Helei (driver) and Khalid Al Kindi (co-driver) took the top spot. This was particularly special as Al Helei is the only person to have competed in every single one of the 25 editions of this race. With a time of 3:20:13, he was almost 2 minutes in front of last year’s winner and World Champion Vladimir Vasilyev.
Day 2 – 279km ADNOC Special Stage
A long early morning liaison took us out to the start of the special stage just off the Madinat Zayed road. This was an exciting mass start for the bikes. I again managed to prevent myself getting carried away in the moment and stuck to my game plan of just riding my ride. I felt great on the bike and teamed up with Tony Landh to the half way point at PC2. I was faster through the technical dunes due to my local knowledge and he was faster along the open sections. We made excellent progress. Just before PC2 we came across a rider out of fuel. I stopped to help and got him going with a couple of litres of my fuel. It took 15 minutes and split myself and Tony up.
About half way to PC3 the going got tough with lots of camel grass. I’d been caught by the faster cars and they were adding to the conditions by chopping it up brutally. At somewhere just over 200km into the stage I made a mistake on the chopped up sand of a big slipface on the backside of a big steep crest. I needed to reset my bike and get going again. I did this and was on the bike ready to go when I heard the car coming. A split second later and it was over the crest and hit me. I saw the view of a rally car that can only mean bad things. I was very lucky, it was only the front wheel that went over my right leg, it could have been a whole lot worse. I knew I was injured and that my race was over. Within 15 minutes the paramedics were there and I was airlifted by chopper to Madinat Zayed Hospital where an x-ray showed both tibia and fibula broken. Gutted.
In the bikes Sunderland was in his element and won the stage from Austrian KTM teammate Walkner by 3 seconds. Coma was back in tenth. This left the overall standings with Sunderland in first, Coma in second and Goncalves in third.
In the cars category, Qatari 2015 Dakar winner Nasser Al Attiyah took first, in a Mini All4 Racing by 7mins 16 secs from Russia’s defending champion, Vladimir Vasilyev in another Mini, to grab a 4mins 13secs overall advantage.
With Dutchman Erik Van Loon climbing three places to third, UAE local hero Yahya Al Helei – the overnight leader, was seventh fastest on the day to finish the leg in fourth place overall alongside Emirati co-driver Khalid Al Kendi in his Nissan pickup.
Day 3 – 272 km Qasr Al Sarab Special Stage
Starting near Moreeb, this saw the rally having a hot day with temperatures close to 40 with a lot of it inside the Liwa Crescent and its sand mountains. This took its toll on competitors across the field at all levels.
This day saw Nasser Al Attiyah strengthening his grip on the race with another measured drive in the Rub Al Khali while World Champion Marc Coma made a big move in his search for an eighth bikes triumph in the event.
Victory in the bikes by 29secs went to defending champion Paulo Goncalves, but second place on the day was enough to give Coma a 5min 4secs overall advantage from the Portuguese rider, with overnight leader Sam Sunderland slipping to third.
Chile’s Pablo Quintanilla, Portugal’s Ruben Faria and American rider Ricky Brabec completed the top six heading, with the UAE’s Mohammed Al Balooshi still going strong in seventh.
Al Attiyah took the stage by more than 11 minutes from Russia’s Vladimir Vasilyev to open up an overall lead of 15min 54secs from the defending cars champion.
With Dutchman Erik Van Loon another 14min 46secs adrift, the UAE’s Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi finished the day within reach of a podium place after another impressive drive for his Desert Challenge debut alongside Portugal’s Jose Marques in Toyota Hilux.
Britain’s Harry Hunt in a Mini and Poland’s Marek Dabrowski in a Toyota Hilux completed the top six at the end of the demanding leg which was particularly unkind to another Emirati driver, Yahya Al Helei.
The first stage winner, who was still fourth at the start of the day, was halted by a broken clutch as he took his Nissan pickup through the mighty dunes close to the legendary Moreeb Hill, eventually slipping to ninth place overall, more than two hours off the lead.
Day 4 – 258km Nissan Patrol Special Stage
In my opinion this is the most spectacular day of the rally with most of it in the crescent passing parallel to the border amongst its huge dunes and sabkahs. But with a second horrendously hot day it took a huge toll on man and machine again.
Crazy Camel Racing’s Ben Smith who had been having a fantastic first FIM race running consistently around 15th on his Rebel X Yamaha was airlifted out of the stage with severe dehydration as was Crazy Camels Jan Zatko. Crazy Camel’s Tony Landh suffered a big off and was airlifted to Mafeq hospital with some significant injuries. Kurt suffered mechanical problems and Keith stayed with him for them both to limp their way back to the bivouac from PC2. Tough day in the office for the Crazy Camels! Local Superman Kobus Potgieter’s rally also ended with a broken wrist after a great consistent ride up to that point.
There were no problems for stage winner Matthias Walkner, nor for his KTM teammate Coma, who was second fastest on the day to extend his overall lead from Sunderland to 11 mins 55secs. But it was all over for the reign of Goncalves as Desert Challenge bikes champion as he waited for the sweep team while he encountered electrical problems.
Al Attiyah won the special stage from defending champion Vladimir Vasilyev to extend his overall lead to 19min 47secs. With Dutchman Erik Van Loon another 20 minutes away in third, Britain’s Harry Hunt, and Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Poland’s Marek Dabrowski, both driving a Toyota Hilux, completed the top six.
It was a bitterly disappointing day for Sheikh Khalid Al Qassimi, holding fourth place overnight on his Desert Challenge debut, and fellow-Emirati driver Yahya Al Helei, winner of the first stage on Sunday. Al Qassimi retired half way through the stage with a gearbox problem, but after such a strong showing on his first appearance in the FIA World Cup for Cross Country Rallies there could be much more to come.
Al Helei, who had slipped to ninth, 24 hours earlier after outpacing the factory cars in his locally-built Nissan pickup, rolled early on the stage and then suffered a heavy landing after 35kms. Co-driver Khalid Al Kendi was freed from the car by the medical team and evacuated by helicopter to Madinat Zayed Hospital with back injuries.
Day 5 – 234 km Abu Dhabi Aviation Special Stage
Scheduled to be a close reverse of Day 1 with the rally heading back to Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi for tea and medals a big sandstorm prevented safe racing leaving all the competitors to slog it out along the Humeem road in horrible conditions.
Final positions leave an amazing situation with a clean sweep on the podium for Mini in the cars and KTM in the bikes
Final Positions
1. Nasser Al-Attiyah / Mathieu Baumel (QAT / FRA) Mini All4 Racing 14:33:01.0
2. Vladimir Vasilyev / Konstantin Zhiltsov (RUS/RUS) Mini All4 Racing 14:52:48.0
3. Erik Van Loon / Wouter Rosegaar (NED / NED) Mini All4 Racing 15:13:03.0
4. Harry Hunt / Andreas Schulz (GBR / DEU) Mini All4 Racing 15:43:36.0
5. Yazeed Al-Rajhi / Timo Gotschalk (KSA / DEU) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 16:27:01.0
6. Marek Dabrowski / Jacek Czachor (POL / POL) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 16:42:41.0
Bikes
1.Marc Coma (SPA) KTM 450 RR 14:49:05.0
2. Sam Sunderland (GBR) KTM 450 RR 15:01:00.0
3. Pablo Quintanilla (CHI) KTM 450 RR 15:09:21.0
4. Ruben Faria (POR) KTM 450 RR 15:17:06.0
5. Ricky Brabec (USA) Honda CRF 450 Rally 15:23:22.0
6. Mohammad Al Balooshi (UAE) KTM 450 RR 15:33:53.0
