The 2025 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (ADDC), round two of the FIM World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) season from February 21 to 27, see Red Bull KTM’s Dakar winner Daniel Sanders back in the sand and facing the mighty Monster Energy Honda boys.

The crest of the wave Daniel Sanders has been riding since winning the 2025 Dakar Rally will swell down this week as the Red Bull KTM rider puts his boots back on for round two of the 2025 FIM W2RC season.

The 34th edition of the Abi Dhabi Desert Challenge (yes, 34!) is the traditional second stop for the riders in W2RC and in actual fact dishes up sandy terrain not unlike those closing stages in the Dakar last month.

The ADDC plan consists of a prologue and five stages running from Al Ain, hosting the start for the first time, to the capital, Abu Dhabi meaning 1189km of specials and just short of 2000km in total.

96 of the 114 vehicles in the 34th edition of the Emirati classic will be battling for world championship points with 62 in the FIM classes (8 in Rally GP, 47 in Rally 2 and 7 quads).

Rally GP class

The big winner of the season opener in Saudi Arabia, Daniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), is heading to Abu Dhabi as the overall leader, with 38 points.

The Australian finished a lowly 12th on his debut in 2021 and certainly is in a different place now in his rally career. Chucky will have teammate Luciano Benavides by his side as he takes on the mighty Monster Energy Honda HRC team of Tosha Schareina and Adrien Van Beveren, the second and third placed finishers at Dakar, plus Americans Ricky Brabec and Skyler Howes.

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VBA is the only rider in the field who has previously won in Abu Dhabi (2023). He also finished second on his first attempt in 2021, but this will be just his third time competing at the ADDC.

Only seven of the 12 Rally GP riders who lined up for the season opener in January made it to the finish across the Saudi border in Shubaytah. The eight ADDC entrants consist of those same seven riders, who picked up their first points of the season, plus Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports) who was forced to retire. 

The reigning world champion is returning to competition after his Dakar was cut short by a crash in stage six, while running fourth. Last year, the Botswanan bounced back from an engine problem to take second place in Rally GP, right behind his teammate Aaron Mare, who clinched the race win. This time round, the reigning world champion will be able to count on Nacho Cornejo as running mate.

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Rally 2

The overall class leader, rookie Edgar Canet (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, is set to make his Abu Dhabi debut, where he will again face off against Tobias Ebster (SRG Motorsports), who claimed the 2023 race on his first attempt, and the Konrad Dąbrowski (Duust Rally Team) who won in ‘24.

ADDC facts

Adrien Van Beveren, is the only former winner of the race on the entry list, so the likelihood of seeing a new ADDC winner is at its highest in a decade. 

Marc Coma (the all-time record holder with eight wins) and Cyril Despres (five) took their final bow in 2015, passing on the torch to a new generation of winners. 

Toby Price (2016 ADDC winner and 2018 world champion) and Sam Sunderland (a three-time victor in 2017, 2019 and 2022 and a two-time world champion in 2019 and 2022) have moved on, while Pablo Quintanilla (2018 ADDC winner and two-time world champion in 2016 and 2017) is still on the mend following his crash at the Dakar, so it should come as no surprise if a new rider adds his name to the honour list.

ADDC Entry list:

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Photo Credit: Edo Bauer + Marcin Kin