Daniel Sanders’ 2025 could not have started any better. After winning the Dakar Rally in January, he continued his momentum by defeating Tosha Schareina at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge to go two-for-two in the World Rally-Raid Championship so far.
Schareina had drawn first blood by winning the Prologue and Stage #1, while Sanders had a relatively muted start as he finished even behind his Rally2 teammate Edgar Canet in the first leg. He roared to life after that, taking the lead in Stage #2 when Schareina struggled as the first bike out, setting the pattern for the rest of the rally.
In rally raid, being the first vehicle to begin a stage is not ideal because you have to lay down the path, which those who start afterward can follow. The FIM has time bonuses for the first bikes on track, though those only do so much to mitigate the damage and you still have to erase the disadvantages yourself.
The Emirati deserts, however, are a difficult place to do that. The first starter for every stage, which is often the previous day’s winner, never cracked the podium. This meant the RallyGP lead alternated between Sanders and Schareina as one would win a stage then struggle as the opening bike the next day while the other won.
Unfortunately for Schareina, kicking off Stage #4 was an utter disaster. He got lost 50 kilometes in and never recovered, finishing last in RallyGP and dropping to fifth. Winning the last day did little to make up the ground he lost as he had to settle for third behind Sanders and Honda teammate Ricky Brabec.
“Tosha finished second at the Dakar even though he rode seven stages with a broken collarbone. Since then he’s had to just recover, so he didn’t get back on a bike until two days before Abu Dhabi,” explained HRC manager Ruben Faria. “Of course, when you’re not riding for a month, you always feel that you are not in the best shape. But in the end, he did a really good job to finish third with just that 17-second gap to Ricky.”
Sanders beat Brabec by over five minutes to secure KTM’s first ADDC title since 2021. Ironically, that was also his most recent time racing in Abu Dhabi—when he was with GasGas—and was contending for the win before running out of fuel on the final day.
He is also the fifth rider to win Dakar and Abu Dhabi in the same year after Cyril Despres (2005), Marc Coma (2006, 2009, 2011, 2015), Toby Price (2016), and Sam Sunderland (2017, 2022).
“This one is a really great victory to tick off as last time I was here, I lost out on the win on the final day which was tough,” said Sanders. “I felt great all week and it’s amazing to have won three races in a row now. I’m really enjoying riding, my KTM is running perfectly, and I can’t thank everyone in the team enough for their hard work to get us to this point.”
Ross Branch was the only RallyGP retirement in a difficult race for Hero MotoSports, who won the 2024 race with Aaron Marè. The reigning champion’s title defense was off to a rough start as he crashed out of Dakar, then he suffered a clutch failure in Stage #2 that forced him to bow out of Abu Dhabi. This left José Ignacio Cornejo as the lone Hero and he finished sixth with a second in Stage #2 and third in Stage #4.
Results
| Finish | Overall | Number | Rider | Team | Time | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 4 | Daniel Sanders | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 14:20:56 | Leader |
| 2 | 2 | 9 | Ricky Brabec | Monster Energy Honda HRC | 14:26:43 | + 5:47 |
| 3 | 3 | 68 | Tosha Schareina | Monster Energy Honda HRC | 14:27:00 | + 6:04 |
| 4 | 4 | 77 | Luciano Benavides | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | 14:28:57 | + 8:01 |
| 5 | 5 | 42 | Adrien Van Beveren | Monster Energy Honda HRC | 14:30:48 | + 9:52 |
| 6 | 6 | 11 | José Ignacio Cornejo | Hero MotoSports | 14:33:29 | + 12:33 |
| 7 | 7 | 10 | Skyler Howes | Monster Energy Honda HRC | 14:39:13 | + 18:17 |
| DNF | DNF | 1 | Ross Branch | Hero MotoSports | DNF | N/A |
Stage winners
| Stage | Winner | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Prologue | Tosha Schareina | 6:53.4 |
| Stage #1 | Tosha Schareina | 2:54:00 |
| Stage #2 | Daniel Sanders | 3:01:35 |
| Stage #3 | Tosha Schareina | 3:09:58 |
| Stage #4 | Daniel Sanders | 2:52:14 |
| Stage #5 | Tosha Schareina | 2:03:27 |
W2RC
Riders
| Rank | Rider | Points | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Daniel Sanders | 63 | Leader |
| 2 | Tosha Schareina | 46 | – 17 |
| 3 | Ricky Brabec | 37 | – 26 |
| 4 | Adrien Van Beveren | 35 | – 28 |
| 5 | Luciano Benavides | 33 | – 30 |
| T-6 | José Ignacio Cornejo | 24 | – 39 |
| T-6 | Skyler Howes | 24 | – 39 |
Manufacturers
| Rank | Manufacturer | Points | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | KTM | 96 | Leader |
| 2 | Honda | 90 | – 6 |
| 3 | Hero | 24 | – 72 |
Featured image credit: Helena Clancy / Edophoto
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