
A double podium and world championship points in Abu Dhabi. All in a standard week’s work for Ricky Brabec and Pablo Quintanilla; who locked in second and third place respectively at the end of the 2022 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.
What’s more Ignacio Nacho Cornejo brought his Honda CRF 450 Rally home in P7, meaning the massive haul of points places the Monster Energy Honda Team at the top of the overall standings in the FIM 2R World Rally-Raid Championship.
The challenge of this year’s appropriately named Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge was unsurprisingly dominated by dunes and sand. Tons of it. More specifically the fine soft sand of the Rub’ al Khali desert - ominously known as “The Empty Quarter”.
Scenic and relentless - it was all characterized by brutal wind which takes your breath away, mixed with Hell’s own dust, blinding sun, and torrid temperatures during the day. To top it all off, this year’s route spanned 1,917km over five days of sprint-style competition.