Stage 1 Victory for Moraes/Monleon in Abu Dhabi

• 1st overall on Stage 1 for Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleon
• 3rd overall on Stage 1 for Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz
• 5th overall on Stage 1 for Saood Variawa and Francois Cazalet
• Three TGR crews in Stage 1 Top 5

Stage 1 of the 2025 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, Round 2 of the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) saw TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s (TGR) Lucas Moraes and co-driver Armand Monleon (#203) clinch victory in their GR Hilux EVO. The pair finished the 243km-long special stage in 2hr 57min 34sec, leaving them 1min 1sec ahead of their nearest competition. They started the day as the 15th car on the road, and made the most of their road position to seal the win – their 8th stage victory on the W2RC.

Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz, in the #204 GR Hilux EVO, brought their car to the finish in the third-fastest time, just 1min 6sec behind the crew ahead of them, and 2min 7sec behind their stage-winning teammates. Quintero/Zenz were 10th-fastest on yesterday’s Prologue, but started today’s opening stage as the 7th car into the fray. This tested their navigational skills, but the pair showed their class by finishing the day in a podium position.

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TGR’s Saood Variawa and co-driver Francois Cazalet (#218) also recorded a solid performance during Stage 1 of the rally. They set the 5th-fastest time on the day, 3min 7sec behind the winners, despite a relative lack of experience in the dunes.

The final TGR pairing of Guy Botterill and Dennis Murphy were 12th on today’s stage following a steady drive that saw them relinquish 7min 28sec to the stage winners. Botterill/Murphy suffered a significant crash on Stage 9 of this year’s Dakar Rally, and opted for a conservative approach to the opening stage of the event.

Their result today will put them in a good road position for tomorrow’s second stage, which will see Moraes/Monleon open the route. Stage 2 will feature a 228km-long looped route, starting and ending near the bivouac at Mezeer’ah. The terrain will feature more dunes, together with some sandy tracks, and will also include 74km of liaisons. The 2025 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge consists of five stages, and will finish in Abu Dhabi on Thursday 27 February.

QUOTES:

Lucas Moraes (#203): 

“ It feels really good to pick it up where we left off in Dakar, winning the last stage there and winning the first stage here. I’m really proud of the team, and the GR Hilux EVO is just amazing to drive.”

Seth Quintero (#204): 

“Today went okay for us. We ended up P3, so that’s a good start for the team. Lucas did a great job and got first place, so really good points for the championship. It wasn’t my best day, I would say, but the car worked great and everything was awesome. We have a lot of racing left and a lot left in the tank, so we’ll keep it going.”

Saood Variawa (#218): 

“Today was quite a good day, basically full-on in the dunes, not huge dunes but very much flowy fast dunes. I think it’s a P4 or P5 in the stage, so happy with that, and we’ll see how tomorrow goes.”

Guy Botterill (#211): 

“Yeah, we had a reasonable day. We basically drove the whole stage by ourselves and the guys behind us got into a bit of a train. Dennis was good on the notes, we didn’t make any mistakes, just a solid clean run and driving out there by yourself, so you never know how quickly you’re going. I’m quite happy with where we are and we can just build from there.”

Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge 2025 – Stage 1 Results