Let’s have a look at the quality of racing witnessed at round two of the 2025 World Rally Raid Championships, the 2025 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.
Go behind the scenes of this year’s rally, where Monster Energy Honda HRC’s camera crew and their riders faced long days, extreme desert conditions and fierce sandstorms, pushing their limits in the quest for glory.
The 2025 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge unfolded as an exhilarating race across 1920 kilometres of some of the world’s most breathtaking dunes, with the Monster Energy Honda HRC – Ricky Brabec, Skyler Howes, Adrien Van Beveren and Tosha Schareina leading the charge, although they twice had to bow to the superiority of Australian Daniel Sanders (KTM), the overall winner of both the five-round series’ opening round, the Dakar Rally in January, and then the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.
From the very first stage, this year’s Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge delivered non-stop action.
Schareina, fresh to the event, kicked off the rally with victory in the opening prologue and what followed was a thrilling battle between KTM’s Sanders, Schareina and his Honda team-mate Brabec.
A consistent Brabec, powered through to claim the runner-up position, while Schareina staged an impressive comeback on the final day to secure the third spot, finishing just 17 seconds behind his team-mate.
Now, as the riders take a well-deserved break, their focus shifts toward the South African Safari Rally, round three of the series, set to take place from May 18-24.
Photo courtesy Honda
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Standings after two of five rounds:
| 1 | D. Sanders (AUS) | RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING KTM |
63pts | 38 pts round 1 (1.) |
25 pts round 2 (1.) |
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| 2 | T. Schareina (ESP) | MONSTER ENERGY HONDA HRC HONDA |
46pts | 30 (2.) |
16 (3.) |
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| 3 | R. Brabec (USA) | MONSTER ENERGY HONDA HRC HONDA |
37pts | 17 (5.) |
20 (2.) |
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| 4 | A. Van Beveren (FRA) | MONSTER ENERGY HONDA HRC HONDA |
35pts | 24 (3.) |
11 (5.) |
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| 5 | L. Benavides (ARG) | RED BULL KTM FACTORY RACING KTM |
33pts | 20 (4.) |
13 (4.) |
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| 6 | J. Cornejo Florimo CHL) | HERO MOTOSPORTS TEAM RALLY HERO |
24pts | 14 (7.) |
10 (6.) |
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| 6 | S. Howes (USA) | MONSTER ENERGY HONDA HRC HONDA |
24pts | 15 (6.) |
9 (7.) |