2021 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge – Stage One
The 2021 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge has kicked off with Stage One a challenging 262-kilometre timed special, which saw Monster Energy Yamaha Rally Team’s Ross Branch take an early lead.
Delivering a strong performance on the opening stage of the rally, Branch secured the win following a tantalising battle with Matthias Walkner.
Monster Energy Yamaha Rally Team’s Branch begun the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in the best way possible with victory. Up to speed and confident in his ability to master the challenging sand dunes that formed a large part of the special, Branch moved into the lead mid-way through the opening stage and now lies at the top of the overall provisional classification.
Ross Branch – P1
“All in all it’s been a great day today for myself and the whole team. I really enjoyed the stage, and the dunes were amazing, so it was a fun day in the desert. The pace at the front was high which was a good experience and certainly helped with my overall speed. I’ll be leading out tomorrow so I’m excited about that as it’ll be a nice challenge and hopefully, I can do a good job and stay up front.”
Although his start position meant he was able to make up time by chasing down the 14 riders ahead of him, it also meant Walkner had to catch and pass those riders to maintain his speed as he navigated through the mixed Abu Dhabi terrain. A strong performance on the opening half of the special saw the Austrian lying second by the refueling point, from where he got his head down to try and make up time on the leader.
Completing the special in second, a mere six seconds down on the stage winner, Matthias lies second overall in the provisional rally standings – just four-seconds back thanks to his Prologue performance.
Matthias Walkner – P2
“I had a good day today – the pace was really high and by the refueling I could see I was about one minute down of the leader. I pushed as hard as I could after that and managed to bring the gap down to just six seconds, which I was happy with. It puts me in a really good position for tomorrow’s stage and hopefully I can make up a little more time. The goal of the rally is to just enjoy my riding, get some more time on the bike, and not make any big mistakes. I’ll give it my best as always, and hopefully keep this momentum up for the rest of the race.”
Franco Caimi led the Hero MotoSports Rally Team efforts and finished the stage in third position. He got into a good rhythm from the start and was within the top three throughout the stage.
Franco Caimi – P3
“It is my first time in this desert yet I found a good rhythm on the bike and was able to deliver a good first stage. The bike is working perfectly, so I am happy and motivated for Stage 2.”
Daniel Sanders was looking forward to the racing through the dunes of Abu Dhabi, but with the desert terrain being different to anything he had faced before, the Aussie chose to curb his pace slightly to minimise the chance of making any huge mistakes.
Despite his cautious approach, Sanders still put in an impressive ride to complete the 262 km timed special as fourth quickest – not bad considering he even made a few errors with his navigation. Combined with his prologue result, Daniel lies third overall going into day two, three-minutes down on the provisional rally leader. And with two of his main opponents starting ahead of him tomorrow, Chucky will be fired up to chase down the riders in front and reduce the gap in the overall standings.
Daniel Sanders – P4
“Not a bad day for me, but not the best. As this is my first time in Abu Dhabi, I didn’t really know how the desert was and had a couple of scares early on with some big drops. I eased back a little and tried to stick to a good, solid pace, and other than a couple of navigation mistakes it all went well. I think towards the end I was riding a little bit too cautious, but it was a good day to get my eye in. I start fourth tomorrow so hopefully I can chase down the guys in front.”
Rounding out a highly positive start to the event for the team, Adrien Van Beveren and Andrew Short brought their Yamaha WR450F Rally machines home in fifth and sixth place, respectively.
Adrien Van Beveren – P5
“I’m happy with today. After not such a good time in the prologue yesterday I started down the order but quickly caught up and led the stage from kilometre 100 to kilometre 160. So this was a challenge, but I enjoyed it. To finish just five minutes behind Ross is great after opening a lot of the stage and by finishing fifth, I start tomorrow in a great position to follow the lines and hopefully I can produce another strong result.”
Andrew Short – P6
“It’s good to get the first stage here in Abu Dhabi done and it was a pretty good day for me. The stage had a bit of everything, smaller dunes to start, then some desert tracks, and then towards the end there were a lot of big, rolling dunes. From tomorrow onwards I need to just find a little more speed, but I think I can find it. My bike was working great today so everything’s positive and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Toby Price is not contesting this rally as he prepares to race on four wheels in the Baja 1000 next week.
Monday’s stage two of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge is the longest of the event at 470.58 kilometres and will see riders take on a timed special of 333.43 kilometres.
Stage 1 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge 2021 – Results
| Pos | Rider | Nat. | Man. | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Ross Branch | BWA | Yamaha | 3:20:19 |
| 2 | Matthias Walkner | AUT | KTM | +6 seconds |
| 3 | Franco Caimi | ARG | Hero | +3:02 |
| 4 | Daniel Sanders | AUS | GASGAS | +3:07 |
| 5 | Adrien Van Beveren | FRA | Yamaha | +4:52 |
Dhabi Desert Challenge 2021 Standings
| Pos | Rider | Nat. | Man. | Time/Gap |
| 1 | Ross Branch | BWA | Yamaha | 3:25:31 |
| 2 | Matthias Walkner | AUT | KTM | +4 seconds |
| 3 | Daniel Sanders | AUS | GASGAS | +3:06 |
| 4 | Franco Caimi | ARG | Hero | +3:07 |
| 5 | Adrien Van Beveren | FRA | Yamaha | +5:04 |
