Dakar Champ Toby Price wins the opening round of the 2016 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship in Abu Dhabi; Red Bull KTM goes one-two.
Red Bull KTM’s Toby Price of Australia picked up where he left off when he won the prestigious Dakar Rally last January by winning the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, round one of the 2016 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship in the country of Abu Dhabi, today.
Price came out on top of a tight, week-long three-rider battle with his Red Bull KTM teammate Sam Sunderland—who hails from Great Britain but resides in Dubai—and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s Pablo Quintanilla of Chile. Price recorded an overall time of 18 hours, 18 minutes and 24 seconds en route to the win.
“The last days were very hot, so we were lucky that that the first few days of the rally were much cooler. Every day in the desert was all about getting another 250 kilometers in the bag and being another day down. I did my best to ride smooth throughout the rally and get some rhythm going. Every win is great, and this is definitely the best way to start to the new season.”
Price set the tone with in in the first stage to eek out the early lead, but Quintanilla came right back and scored the win in Stage 2 to take the overall lead. Yamaha Factory rider Helder Rodrigues made it three different winners in three days when he topped Stage 3, but the Portuguese rider was already out of the running for the overall after having suffered mechanical woes that required him to be towed to the bivouac during Stage 2. The top three over shadowed each other all day, with Price moving back into the overall lead by 57 seconds over Sunderland, while Quintanilla, who opened the stage finished 1 minute and 15 seconds out of the lead.
Quintanilla’s teammate, Pela Renet, broke through to earn his first career major rally stage win in Stage 4, outshining a brilliant performance by another Chilean, KTM-mounted privateer Jose Cornejo Florimo, who moved up to fifth overall. Quintanilla also had a strong day, moving back into the lead heading into today’s final stage through the dunes and desert plains of the Western Region of Al Gharbia.
But Price wasn’t about to concede, and he and Quintanilla engaged in a thriller of a final stage in which both men held the lead twice during their battle. In the end, Price was able to take the stage win and the overall win with an overall margin of victory of 2 minutes and 9 seconds over runner-up Sunderland with Quintanilla third, another 1 minute and 12 seconds behind Sunderland.
“That was good riding,” Price said. “I had a couple of close calls today. I was pushing hard from the start. I was riding most of the time with Sam, which wasn’t the plan at first. We tried shaking the guys behind us, but weren’t really able to.”
UAE’s Mohammed Al Balooshi finished fourth overall, with Renet fifth overall. World-renowned female rally rider Laia Sanz also had a great rally, finishing a fantastic sixth overall.
Round two of the 2016 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship, the Sealine Cross-Country Rally, is scheduled for April 17-22.
2016 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship
Round 1 of 6: Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge
Final Results: April 7, 2016 (after 5 of 5 stages)
Overall
1. Toby Price (AUS)-KTM/18 hours, 18 minutes, 24 seconds
2. Sam Sunderland (GBR)-KTM/+00:02:11
3. Pablo Quintanilla (CHL)-Hus/+00:03:23
4. Mohammed Al Balooshi (UAE)-KTM/+00:38:14
5. Pela Renet (FRA)-Hus/+00:38:38
6. Laia Sanz (ESP)-KTM/+01:01:01
7. Jose Cornejo Florimo (CHL)-KTM/+01:01:04
8. Jakub Piatek (POL)-KTM/+01:09:33
9. David McBride (GBR)-KTM/+01:18:53
10. David Thomas (GBR)-Hus/+02:32:58
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