The Qatari driver gave Dacia a tasty victory, taking first place in the Sandrider ahead of the Toyota Hilux of Lucas Moraes and Seth Quintero, who took the next podium positions in that order. With this victory, Al-Attiyah now leads the championship and is, as usual, a strong contender for the title. The Portuguese presence in the Ultimate category resulted in 7th place overall for João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro, driving the X-Raid Mini JCW 3.0 diesel.
This year's edition was marked by the duel between the Dacia of Nassar Al-Attiyah and the Toyota of Brazilian Lucas Moraes, with the Qatari driver finishing just 2m28s ahead. Nasser's fifth victory in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge contrasts with the setback suffered by his team-mate Sébastian Loeb who, on his birthday, overturned the Sandrider and eventually dropped out. Ford ended up in 5th place with the Raptor crewed by Mitchell Guthrie, behind another Toyota Hilux driven by Juan Yacopini. Al-Attiyah leads the drivers' championship, João Ferreira is now 9th in the Ultimate category, while Toyota leads the constructors in the FIA World Rally Raid Championship.
In the SSV category, Italy's Enrico Gaspari was the winner, but Portugal's Alexandre Pinto continues to lead the class. Among the Challenger class, the victory was for women, with Saudi Dania Akeel winning for the first time in a world event. Gonçalo Guerreiro is now 5th in the championship. The next FIA World Rally-Raid will be held for the first time in South Africa between 18 and 24 May, before the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal, scheduled for 22 to 28 September, a W2RC event organised by the ACP.
