2025 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge: Michael Docherty perfect in Rally2

In 2024, Michael Docherty began the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge by becoming the first Rally2 rider to win a W2RC bike stage outright since 2021. However, his race was cut short by a crash the following day.

Returning to the Emirates a year later and now fully healthy, Docherty proved his one-day excursion was no fluke as he won all six legs from Prologue to Stage #5. He is the first person to achieve a clean sweep in Rally2 since the start of the World Rally-Raid Championship.

Docherty figured to face competition from Dakar Rally winner Edgar Canet, but Canet was knocked out in Stage #1 by a crash that broke his elbow. His retirement instead turned the race into a three-man battle between Docherty, Konrad Dąbrowski, and Tobias Ebster as they scrapped for the points lead.

However, Dąbrowski and Ebster had no answer for Docherty, whose margin of victory grew with each day. He won Stage #2 by 3:37, #3 by 4:35, and #4 by 7:50. Entering the final day, he had a comfortable lead of 28:16 over Dąbrowski that allowed him to race more conservatively.

“I’ve had a rough two or three years here. I haven’t been able to finish, so just being able to finish this rally is awesome,” Docherty stated. “It just shows that I’ve learned a lot more, and I’m progressing each time I do a rally.”

Dąbrowski settled for second, still a solid finish as he won the Junior Trophy for riders under 25.

“I had big gaps to the leader and the guy in third place Tobias,” began Dąbrowski. “I was 20 minutes behind and 20 minutes in front so my plan was simple: just stay out of trouble and finish the race.”

Ebster had to claw his way out of an early hole caused by his gearbox breaking 25 kilometers into the first stage. He changed the engine prior to Stage #2, incurring a 15-minute penalty in the process, before falling twice.

His bike mostly cooperated for the rest of the rally. Although he avoided mechanical problems, he spent the marathon trying to figure out the right setup because the suspension was far too soft and caused him to have back pain during the second leg.

The safer approach enabled W2RC newcomer Ruy Barbosa to quickly chase him down. With catching Docherty and Dąbrowski out of the question, Ebster’s goal for Stage #5 was to hold off the Chilean for the final step on the podium. The two were separated by just 32 seconds entering the last day, and Ebster ultimately pulled it off as he defeated Barbosa by 1:49.

Ebster’s third and his second at Dakar, coupled with Canet’s DNF, propelled him into the points lead. Docherty trails by four points and Canet by eight.

Hamdan Al-Ali and Thomas Childs scored top-ten finishes as Malle Moto riders. Al-Ali had a clean rally despite the conditions and no crew to help out. If anything, he helped others just as much, as was the case after Stage #1 when he used zip ties to bind fellow Malle Moto competitor Martin Chalmers’ tire to his rear wheel rim. Even with the inauspicious start to his race, Chalmers placed third among solo riders.

Kees Koolen won the Veteran Trophy for riders over 45 with a 15th overall. He is mainly known for his work on four wheels, having finished fourth in Truck at Dakar in January, but occasionally returns to his roots on a bike.

The ADDC was the first Road to Dakar event, meaning riders with no prior Dakar Rally experience can use it to earn points and bolster their chances of being accepted. Among the hopefuls were brothers Carl and Craig Searles, who were rejected for the 2025 Dakar and basically needed just one more race to get accepted; the two mostly rode together to a 23rd and 24th. Ludwig Messager, certainly more accustomed to the French Alps than dunes as a veteran of the Chasseurs Alpins, had his pivot axle break multiple times on the marathon but reached the finish.

FIM Bajas World Cup points leader Alex McInnes and 2025 Dakar entrants Jatin Jain and Badr Al-Hamdan failed to finish. McInnes, a late switch to Malle Moto, seemed to have everything go wrong for him ranging from the fuel pump switch selector breaking to a broken axle that he had to hammer in every five kilometers to keep stable. Jain bowed out with a broken crank case.

Results

FinishOverallNumberRiderTeamTimeMargin
1822Michael DochertySRG Motorsports14:46:04Leader
2926Konrad DąbrowskiDUUST Rally Team15:20:30+ 34:26
31096Tobias EbsterSRG Motorsports15:37:29+ 51:25
41141Ruy BarbosaXraids Experience15:39:50+ 53:46
51234Martim VenturaOld Friends Rally Team15:53:23+ 1:07:19
61339Andro KorlaetXraids Experience16:09:20+ 1:23:16
71452Khaliunbold ErdenebilegHT Rally Raid17:59:20+ 3:13:16
81557Hamdan Al-Ali †Desert Spirit18:57:14+ 4:11:10
91688Thomas Childs †Vendetta Racing1905:31+ 4:19:27
101737Mattia RivaSRG Motorsports19:49:45+ 5:03:41
111851Markus HertleinHT Rally Raid20:04:21+ 5:18:17
121944Abdul WahidXraids Experience20:08:37+ 5:22:33
132086Martin Chalmers †BOAC Racing20:11:46+ 5:25:42
142153Edvard SokolovskijAG Dakar School20:17:00+ 5:30:56
152350Kees KoolenHT Rally Raid20:24:50+ 5:38:46
162530David BrockNomadas Adventure21:09:56+ 6:23:52
172648Leonardo ColaJoyride Race Service21:29:28+ 6:43:24
182760Robert PrzybyłowskiDUUST Rally Team21:37:35+ 6:51:31
192849Blas ZapagHT Rally Raid21:41:28+ 6:55:24
202938Massimiliano GuerriniSRG Motorsports22:02:28+ 7:16:24
213099Justin Gerlach †JG Racing22:06:16+ 7:20:12
223156Jason Joslin †Desert Spirit22:08:14+ 7:22:10
233280Carl SearlesSearles2Dakar22:40:36+ 7:54:32
243382Craig SearlesSearles2Dakar22:56:04+ 8:10:00
253447Iñigo ZardoyaJoyride Race Service23:27:06+ 8:41:02
263529Ludwig Messager †LB Racing Team Baujue23:47:24+ 9:01:20
273681Alessandro Mendoza †Ateliers Utopia24:38:16+ 9:52:12
283831Roberto MariscalNomadas Adventure27:43:32+ 12:57:28
293936Ricardo LastraOld Friends Rally Team28:15:16+ 13:29:12
304146Joan ViñalsJoyride Race Service47:35:29+ 32:49:25
314243Sebastián UrquíaXraids Experience49:46:42+ 35:00:38
324359Tony Schattat †RNS Electronics58:38:54+ 43:52:50
334440Eduardo AlanXraids Experience108:33:28+ 93:47:24
DNFDNF32Rajendra RESRG MotorsportsDNFN/A
DNFDNF33Alex McInnes †MotoZone RacingDNFN/A
DNFDNF35Pedro PinheiroOld Friends Rally TeamDNFN/A
DNFDNF45Jatin JainDesert StormDNFN/A
DNFDNF58Philip Horlemann †NorthsquadDNFN/A
DNFDNF61Marcin TalagaPoland National TeamDNFN/A
DNFDNF73Edgar CanetRed Bull KTM Factory RacingDNFN/A
DNFDNF83Badr Al-HamdanDesert StormDNFN/A
DNFDNF94Abdulla Lanjawi †SRG MotorsportsDNFN/A
Bold – Junior Trophy
Italics – Veteran Trophy
† – Malle Moto

Stage winners

StageWinnerTime
PrologueMichael Docherty7:33.8
Stage #1Michael Docherty2:58:24
Stage #2Michael Docherty3:15:43
Stage #3Michael Docherty3:17:29
Stage #4Michael Docherty2:56:21
Stage #5Michael Docherty2:10:34

W2RC

RankRiderPointsMargin
1Tobias Ebster46Leader
2Michael Docherty42– 4
3Edgar Canet38– 8
4Konrad Dąbrowski34– 12
5Romain Dumontier24– 22
6Toni Mulec20– 26
7Neels Theric15– 31
8Ruy Barbosa13– 33
9Dušan Drdaj12– 34
T-10Toby Hederics11– 35
T-10Martim Ventura11– 35
12Andro Korlaet10– 36
T-13Khaliunbold Erdenebileg9– 37
T-13Emanuel Gyenes9– 37
T-15Hamdan Al-Ali8– 38
T-15Benjamin Melot8– 38
17Thomas Childs7– 39
T-18Jacob Argubright6– 40
T-18Mattia Riva6– 40
T-20Milan Engel5– 41
T-20Markus Hertlein5– 41
22Abdul Wahid4– 42
T-23Martin Chalmers3– 43
T-23Justin Gerlach3– 43
T-23Jaromír Romančík3– 43
T-26Ahmed Al-Jaber2– 44
T-26Francisco Álvarez2– 44
T-26Francisco Arredondo2– 44
T-26Clément Artaud2– 44
T-26Willem Avenant2– 44
T-26Dwain Barnard2– 44
T-26Damien Bataller2– 44
T-26Max Bianucci2– 44
T-26Vasilis Boudros2– 44
T-26Benjamin Bourdariat2– 44
T-26Jan Brabec2– 44
T-26Jiří Brož2– 44
T-26Marc Calmet2– 44
T-26David Casteu2– 44
T-26Guillaume Chollet2– 44
T-26Álvaro Cóppola2– 44
T-26Julien Dalbec2– 44
T-26Fabien Domas2– 44
T-26Mathieu Dovèze2– 44
T-26Rafic Eid2– 44
T-26Xavier Flick2– 44
T-26Tomás de Gavardo2– 44
T-26Arūnas Gelažninkas2– 44
T-26Philippe Gendron2– 44
T-26Jérémie Gerber2– 44
T-26Sandra Gómez2– 44
T-26Charlie Herbst2– 44
T-26Óscar Hernández2– 44
T-26James Hillier2– 44
T-26Zhao Hongyi2– 44
T-26Tiziano Internó2– 44
T-26Nerimantas Jucius2– 44
T-26Thomas Kongshøj2– 44
T-26Manuel Lucchese2– 44
T-26Paolu Lucci2– 44
T-26Jérôme Martiny2– 44
T-26Simon Marčič2– 44
T-26Zhang Min2– 44
T-26Jeremy Miroir2– 44
T-26Ottavio Missoni Jr.2– 44
T-26Jim Moisa2– 44
T-26Tomasso Montanari2– 44
T-26Purevdorj Murun2– 44
T-26Axel Mustad2– 44
T-26Marshall Méplon2– 44
T-26Gad Nachmani2– 44
T-26David Pabiška2– 44
T-26Mykolas Paulavičius2– 44
T-26Adam Peschel2– 44
T-26Maxime Pouponnot2– 44
T-26Martin Prokeš2– 44
T-26Jean-Philippe Révolte2– 44
T-26Ignacio Sanchis2– 44
T-26Juan Santiago Rostan2– 44
T-26Bruno Santos2– 44
T-26Modestas Siliunas2– 44
T-26Edvard Sokolovskij2– 44
T-26Jordan Strachan2– 44
T-26Sunier2– 44
T-26Bartłomiej Tabin2– 44
T-26Javi Vega2– 44
T-26Robbie Wallace2– 44
T-26Mike Wiedemann2– 44
T-26Andrea Winkler2– 44
T-26Fang Xiangliang2– 44
T-91Eduardo Alan1– 45
T-91David Brock1– 45
T-91Leonardo Cola1– 45
T-91Massimiliano Guerrini1– 45
T-91Jason Joslin1– 45
T-91Kees Koolen1– 45
T-91Ricardo Lastra1– 45
T-91Roberto Mariscal1– 45
T-91Alessandro Mendoza1– 45
T-91Ludwig Messager1– 45
T-91Robert Przybyłowski1– 45
T-91Tony Schattat1– 45
T-91Craig Searles1– 45
T-91Carl Searles1– 45
T-91Sebastián Urquía1– 45
T-91Joan Viñals1– 45
T-91Blas Zapag1– 45
T-91Iñigo Zardoya1– 45

Featured image credit: Helena Clancy / Edophoto

Leave a comment