Prologue win for Pablo Quintanilla

Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge

Pablo Quintanilla was the fastest rider on the six kilometres prologue held in Al Dhannah (5:00 minutes) and Adrien Van Beveren was second, two seconds back.

It was a very positive start of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge 2023 for Monster Energy Honda Team. Pablo Quintanilla was the fastest rider on the six kilometres prologue held today in Al Dhannah (5:00 minutes) and Adrien Van Beveren was second (2 seconds away). Still recovering from his crash on the last Dakar Rally, Ricky Brabec made the sixth best time. José Ignacio Cornejo closed the top ten. According to the World Rally Raid Championship rules, all top 10 riders now have the chance to choose their starting order for tomorrow and this has an important strategic value.

After this warm up, the real competition starts tomorrow with the first stage connecting the city of Al Dhannah and Qasr Al Sarab – with a total of 404 kilometres. There will be first a 59 kilometres liaison to reach the start of the Special Stage. The 242 km on the chronograph will be composed of 43% of dunes, 52% of sandy tracks, 4% of chott and 1% of tarmac. The first bike will start at 8am local time (+4h GMT).

Provisional Standings after Prologue

Pos.	Rider	Num	Nation	Team	Constructor	Time/Gap
1	QUINTANILLA Pablo	7	CHI	Monster Energy Honda Team	Honda	5:00
2	VAN BEVEREN Adrien	42	FRA	Monster Energy Honda Team	Honda	5:02
3	PRICE Toby	18	AUS	Red Bull KTM Rally Factory Team	KTM	5:05
4	KLEIN Mason	43	USA	BAS DAKAR KTM RACING TEAM	KTM	5:08
5	EVAN BRANCH Ross	16	BWA	Hero Motorsports Team Rally	Hero	5:16
6	BRABEC Ricky	2	USA	Monster Energy Honda Team	Honda	5:16
7	BÜHLER Sebastian		POR	Hero Motorsports Team Rally	Hero	5:18
8	BENAVIDES Luciano	77	ARG	Husqvarna Factory Racing	Husqvarna	5:18
10	CORNEJO José Ignacio	11	CHI	Monster Energy Honda Team	Honda	5:25

Pablo Quintanilla ⁷

Monster Energy Honda Team

“Prologue went really well, it was a short one but a very technical track. The feeling was good. We started from behind and there were a lot of lines in the curves. Sometimes it was quite tricky to go, but I managed to do a good prologue. Now I have a good position for tomorrow so we will keep pushing to keep our lead.”

Adrien Van Beveren ⁴²

Monster Energy Honda Team

“Today I felt good on my Honda CRF 450 Rally and I am happy with my prologue. This was just a short warmup so now we have five more days of racing and I am looking forward to it.”

Ricky Brabec ²

Monster Energy Honda Team

“Prologue is done and it feels really nice to be back on my Honda CRF 450 Rally! There were a lot of straight lines out there so it was a fast track. Anyway this is just day one of five more, so let’s see how things shake up. One thing is for sure - I am very happy to be back!”

José Ignacio Cornejo ¹¹

Monster Energy Honda Team

“I have concluded the prologue and that was good to me since I did better than other times. I really enjoyed riding in the soft sand and felt I was starting to get a loose rhythm. I feel quite ready and prepared for the competition, knowing we will face a lot of difficult dunes. The idea is go out there, do our best and also have a good time!”