Attiyah retains lead, Sanders inches closer to title

Competitors were taken to the limit and beyond by some of the largest dunes ever encountered on the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (ADDC) as the penultimate Stage 4 of the 2025 edition provided a supreme test of technical skill and stamina on the way to the finish line at the iconic Al Dhafra Fort.

And the 2025 Desert Challenge is set for a thrilling final charge to the city of Abu Dhabi after third place in Wednesday’s gruelling stage earned Dacia Sandriders’ Nasser Al Attiyah a slim overall lead over the twin Toyota Gazoo Racing cars of Luca Moraes and Seth Quintero. Victory in the penultimate stage of this year’s epic event went to another Toyota driver, Eryk Goczal, with the 20-year-old Overdrive Racing man claiming a first Desert Challenge stage victory and his first in the top Ultimate Class.

In the bikes, Red Bull KTM Factory Team rider Daniel Sanders looks on course to take his first Desert Challenge win as a second stage win of the event has given him a 7min 23s overall advantage over Monster Energy Honda HRC rider Ricky Brabec, with Sanders’ team-mate Luciano Benavides a further minute back in third place.

Technically complex and physically demanding. Stage 4 really mixed things up with a 300 km route from the Marathon Camp at Al Qua’a that featured multiple types of terrain. Equal parts sand, dunes, wadis and tarmac, the stage took competitors across some of the world’s largest dunes, into the area known as White Sands and then to incredible Al Dhafra fort.

Built in 2017 in the style of the traditional defensive structures of the emirate of Abu Dhabi, the spectacular fort acts as the gateway to the Al Dhafra region, which makes up 70% of the emirate’s territory.

Forts such as Al Dhafra provided site of refuge for the population in times of trouble and today it provided sanctuary for Desert Challenge competitors, with many saying the massive dunes of Stag 4 were among the largest and most difficult they had ever encountered.

At the end of the stage, though, Sanders took the bikes win more than three minutes clear of Monster Energy Honda HRC rival Adrien Van Beveren. In doing so the rider known as ‘Chucky’ scored his 15th W2RC stage win, one shy of record holder Van Beveren. Third place went to Hero Motorsports’ José Ignacio Cornejo.

In Rally 2, Dubai-based Michael Docherty is on track to become the first rider in his class to complete a clean sweep of stages in a W2RC round. The SRG Motorsports rider, who hails from South Africa, used his thorough knowledge of the terrain to take his fifth stage win of the event (including the Qualifying Stage) ahead of Duust Rally Team’s Konrad Dąbrowski and Old Friends Rally Team rider Martin Ventura. The win means that going into the final day has extended his advantage over Dąbrowski to a whopping 28 minutes.

In the cars, the fourth stage of the 2025 Desert Challenge was standout success for Toyota, with a 1-2 finish for the company and with six Toyotas in the top 10.

Commenting on the success, Jacques Brent, Managing Director Al Futtaim Motors, said: “At Al-Futtaim Toyota we take pride in being part of EMSO’s 34th edition of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge starting from the beautiful city of Al Ain. Much like this challenge, Toyota’s Motorsport heritage is also about endurance, performance and achievement.”