Triple glory for Red Bull Desert Wings at inaugural World Rally-Raid Championship

The first-ever World Rally-Raid Championship has wrapped up in Spain, delivering a string of hard-fought victories across the categories. The four-race series spread across three continents has brought out the very best of the world’s premier off-roaders. And now the focus of the convoy turns to the upcoming 2023 Dakar Rally to be hosted by Saudi Arabia next January.

A pulsating battle between Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) and Sébastien Loeb (FRA) has kept us on the edge of our seats throughout the season. Al-Attiyah’s Dakar win earlier this year – in his Toyota Hilux alongside co-driver Mathieu Baumel (FRA) – got his championship off to the perfect start. However The Qatari speedster was not given a moment to relax all season by his French rival and it was only on the finish line of the Andalucia Rally that Al-Attiyah could enjoy his latest victory.

« The main objective here was to win the first-ever world championship. It was an amazing year of racing. Things were always very tight between ourselves and Seb. » – Nasser Al-Attiyah

Such was Loeb’s determination to close the gap on Al-Attiyah that the nine-time WRC champion ended up winning the T1 car class in Andalucia. The winning result alongside co-driver Fabian Lurquin (BEL) in their Prodrive Hunter BRX shows that they’re ready to push for the front again at next January’s Dakar Rally.

« This is fantastic to bring Bahrain Raid Xtreme their first World Rally-Raid Championship victory as we’ve worked hard since 2020 to be able to get this win. It’s really great for everyone. » – Sébastien Loeb

It was a relaxed final stage in Spain for Chaleco López (CHL) after it was already confirmed yesterday that he had won the W2RC’s T3 contest. Despite already having the championship tied up, the Chilean put his foot down on the fourth and final stage to finish third overall. This result means that López and co-driver Oriol Mena (ESP) have parked their Can-Am on the podium at all four races this season making them worthy championship winners.

« It’s been a really long year going all the way back to the Dakar. We’ve needed to be at our best all year to stay on top. I have to say a big thanks to all of my team for making this result possible. » – Chaleco López

Cruising to T3 victory in Spain were Guillaume De Mevius (BEL) and co-driver François Cazalet (FRA) in their OT3. The Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team crew won every stage at the Andalucia Rally and posted the best possible result ahead of a return to the Dakar early next year. The result means Cazalet ends the W2RC season as the most successful co-driver in the T3 class.

« My co-driver is world champion and now I have my first win in the W2RC, I’ve been chasing that for a long time so it’s great to now finally have it. » – Guillaume De Mevius

It was another Red Bull Off-Road Junior Team driver who got closest to López in the overall W2RC rankings. Seth Quintero (USA) and co-driver Dennis Zenz (GER) brought their OT3 to second overall in Spain, which put them second overall in W2RC T3 final classification. Quintero had to deal with a number of technical issues and could only enjoy a clean run on the fourth and final stage in Spain.

« Overall we’ve had a really good year, three consecutive podiums in a row and we got our first overall win. Added to those results we got plenty of stage wins. » – Seth Quintero

Third place overall in the inaugural W2RC T3 contest goes to Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP). The Spanish native finished fourth in Andalucia alongside co-driver Pablo Moreno (ESP) in their OT3 to complete a season of outstanding consistency.

In the Open Class there was an overall victory for 14-time Dakar winner Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA) racing a Yamaha YXZ1000R alongside co-driver Edouard Boulanger (FRA). Following behind Peterhansel were Mitch Guthrie Jr. (USA)/Kellon Walch (USA) as they debuted the T3-M by MC5 and its combo of 32-inch BFG KDR3 tyres and bespoke KMC wheels.

It was his victories at the 2022 Dakar and the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge earlier this year that put Sam Sunderland (GBR) in pole position for glory in the W2RC’s bike category. The British biker returned to action this month to contest Rallye du Maroc and the Andalucia Rally. Despite riding with a huge target on his back as the man to beat, the GasGas Factory biker rode smart all the way to become the W2RC’s first-ever bike champion.

« It’s great to bring home the title for the team, I’m super grateful for all their hard work and happy I can give them the championship. The season started perfectly with the Dakar win and also the win in Abu Dhabi. » – Sam Sunderland

Kevin Benavides (ARG) represented Red Bull KTM Factory Racing during the inaugural W2RC and enjoyed a mixed bag of results along the way. Steady improvements throughout the season showed that the Argentinian biker is getting back to his best just in time for another assault on the Dakar.

Kevin Benavides performs during the 3rd stage of the Rally Andalucia in Seville, Spain on October 22, 2022

« I wasn’t able to fight for the championship but the last two races have been better. Now I want to continue like this for the months preparing for the Dakar. » – Kevin Benavides

The next appointment for the world’s best off-road racers is a return to Saudi Arabia to take on the 2023 Dakar Rally. Running from January 1 until January 15, the legendary race will test the convoy over 5,000 kilometres of challenging terrain. Only the bravest and the best will park themselves on the podium.

World Rally-Raid Championship Standings
T1 – Top 3 : 1. N. Al-Attiyah – Toyota, 168 points ; 2. S. Loeb – Prodrive, 149 pts ; 3. Y. Al Rajhi – Toyota, 121 pts…
T3 – Top 3 : 1. F. Lopez – Can-Am, 199 points ; 2. S. Quintero – OT3, 168 pts ; 3. C.Gutierrez – OT3, 166 pts…
BIKE – Top 3 : 1. S. Sunderland – GasGas, 85 points ; 2. R. Btabec – Honda, 59 pts ; 3. A. Van Beveren – Yamaha, 58 pts…

QUOTES
Nasser Al-Attiyah: « We’re so happy to finish this tricky race. We lost a lot of time yesterday due to two flat tyres. The main objective here was to win the first-ever world championship. It was an amazing year of racing. Things were always very tight between ourselves and Seb. Now we will take everything we have learned this year to help us prepare as best we can for the next Dakar. »

Sébastien Loeb: « This is fantastic to bring Bahrain Raid Xtreme their first World Rally-Raid Championship victory as we’ve worked hard since 2020 to be able to get this win. It’s really great for everyone. In 2022 the fight with Nasser Al-Attiyah was always very tough but I pushed hard all the way through this stage and yet we were only six seconds apart so that was a great battle over a rally like this with such tricky stages. Over the season we’ve had a good performance from the Prodrive Hunter – we’re now there with the speed and were it not for some bad luck on the last rally we’d be event closer to the title. »

Chaleco López: « We’ve come to the end of another very difficult rally. We’re so happy that we’ve been able to do enough here to win the world championship. It’s been a really long year going all the way back to the Dakar. We’ve needed to be at our best all year to stay on top. I have to say a big thanks to all of my team for making this result possible. »

Guillaume De Mevius: « My co-driver is world champion and now I have my first win in the W2RC. I’ve been chasing that for a long time so it’s great to now finally have it. The car worked very well this week and all the team did a great job. Now our focus switches immediately to the next Dakar. »

Seth Quintero: « It looks like we ended second overall here and just snuck by our team-mate Cristina for second overall in the championship. Overall we’ve had a really good year, three consecutive podiums in a row and we got our first overall win. Added to those results we got plenty of stage wins. There’s a lot to be positive about ahead of another trip back to the Dakar. »

Sam Sunderland: « Today was just about keeping things steady to wrap up the championship. It’s great to bring home the title for the team, I’m super grateful for all their hard work and happy I can give them the championship. The season started perfectly with the Dakar win and also the win in Abu Dhabi. Then after a long break we came back for Morocco and here. Even though this was a short race, it was still tricky. Now we’ve finished here on the beach and can celebrate winning a hard fought title. »

Kevin Benavides: « It was a tricky final stage, I opened the road all day. It was tough for me to come back from a penalty on day one because the rally was too short to recover that time. All in all it has been a good month for me with this rally and also Morocco. The feeling on the bike has been good at both rallies. I wasn’t able to fight for the championship but the last two races have been better. Now I want to continue like this for the months preparing for the Dakar. »

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