Nasser and Mathieu will be joined by teammates Henk Lategan and co-driver Brett Cummings, who finished in 5th place in this year’s Dakar. The latter pairing will be doing the Desert Challenge as a once-off event, and will not officially be entering the W2RC for 2023.

Tough and reliable

Both crews will be competing in the GR DKR Hilux T1+, which won its second consecutive Dakar Rally earlier this year. The cars, fully provided with the Eurol Specialty Racing line, has proven extremely tough and reliable. At this moment Nasser Al Attiyah is with 85 points on second position of the world championship, only two points behind Sebastien Loeb. He is focused to push for victory in Abu Dhabi, in order to take the outright lead in the W2RC standings.

Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge

This year’s Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge is set to kick off with a prologue, to determine the starting orders for Stage 1, on Sunday 26 February. This will be followed by five stages, totalling 1,311km. The total distance for the event, including liaisons, will be 2,168km, with the timed stages varying in length between 208km and 310km. The event is scheduled to finish at the Energy Business Centre in Abu Dhabi City on Friday 3 March.

W2RC: Driver Standings after Dakar 2023

1. S. Loeb, Bahrain Raid Extreme – 87
2. N. Al-Attiyah, TOYOTA GAZOO Racing – 85
3. G. Chicherit, Prodrive – 49
4. M. Ekstrom, Team Audi Sport – 37
5. M. Prokop, Orlen Benzina Team – 31

Calendar World Rally-Raid Championship 2023

• Dakar Rally (Sau) | 31/12/2022 – 15/01/2023
• ADDC (Are) | 26/02/2023- 03/03/2023
• Sonora Rally (Mex) | 22/04/2023 – 28/04/2023
• Desafio Ruta 40 (Arg) | 26/08/2023 – 01/09/2023
• Rallye Du Maroc (Mar) | 12/10/2023 – 18/10/2023