Red Bull KTM’s Toby Price has finished fourth overall in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge while GasGas Factory Racing’s Sam Sunderland took victory.
Price was 10th-fastest in the fifth and final stage, which he had started second in the road order before overtaking Husqvarna’s Luciano Benavides after around 80km.
It represents the completion of an event which began in frustrating circumstances for the Australian, who suffered a setback in the form of a GPS issue on Stage 1 then sustained a burn when he crashed on Stage 2.
“I’m pleased with how the race has gone,” said Price.
“I’m definitely feeling a lot more comfortable on the bike, and was well in the hunt for the podium, which is definitely an improvement over Dakar [10th overall in 2022].
“It’s been a tough event and I’m definitely feeling a little bruised and battered right now, but I’ve completed the race in more or less one piece.
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“I got off on the wrong foot on day one with the GPS issue, but that’s out of our control.
“And the result still isn’t quite where I want to be, but the team has done a great job and we’ve learned a lot from the event.
“I’ve got a few things to work on before the next race, so we’ll go away now and get ready for the next round.”
Sunderland won the final, 209km special, and the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge as a whole by 3:08s from Honda duo Ricky Brabec and Pablo Quintanilla.
Having also bagged another Dakar title in January, he is now two from two in the FIM Rally-Raid World Championship with a 17-point lead.
“It feels so cool to get the win,” said the Briton.
“Abu Dhabi is always a tough race with the strategy and that was even more a factor this year as everyone was right on the pace.
“If you started a stage further back you didn’t seem to catch up so much time even though you were pushing like hell, so it was definitely a challenge this year.
“It was a tough race physically as well, partly because of the pace, but because of the heat too, as well as it being so close to Dakar.
“It feels great to get another win and extend my lead in the championship.
“It also feels good to be able to reward the team like this because they have all worked so hard all week, and it’s results like this that makes it all worth it.
“The plan now is to keep the ball rolling and carry this momentum into the third round.”
In the Cars, it was a historic first overall victory for the Audi RS Q e-tron which made its competitive debut two months earlier at the Dakar, courtesy of Stephane Peterhansel.
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