Double podium for Toyota Gazoo Racing in Abu Dhabi

• Second overall for Lucas Moraes and Arman Monleon
• Third overall for Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz
• Sixth overall for Guy Botterill and Dennis Murphy
• Three Toyota Hilux in the top-five  

The fifth and final stage of the 2025 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, round 2 of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) brought more good results for Toyota Gazoo Racing (TGR) – not only in terms of the final stage’s results, but also in the overall standings.

The day saw Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleon (No203) post the second-fastest time over the 103-mile-long special stage. The pair were just 41sec behind the leaders when they started the final stage, but relinquished 1min 47sec to the winners on the day, safely securing second place overall, with a deficit of just 2min 28sec.

TGR’s Seth Quintero and Dennis Zenz in the No204 GR Hilux EVO were third on the final stage, finishing 4min 34sec behind the winners. The Californian driver and his German co-driver had driven a solid race to secure thirrd in the overall standings as well, finishing 11min 56sec off the lead.

Their young teammate, Saood Variawa, who is partnered with Francois Cazalet (No218), finished fifth on the final stage, showing excellent pace to finish  5min 3sec behind the stage winners. While Variawa/Cazalet finished well down the order after not completing Stage 2 of the event, the young driver again proved that he has the pace to drive at the head of the field and he may well become a force to be reckoned with as his experience grows.

The final TGR crew of Guy Botterill and Dennis Murphy (No211) were happy to complete the rally, which Botterill described as “possibly even more technical than the Dakar Rally.” The South African duo finished the final stage as the seventh-fastest crew, which was good enough to seal sixth place for them in the overall standings. The pair are not entered for the W2RC, and as such did not score points towards the championship, but concentrated on expanding their own dune-racing experience.

Overall, Moraes/Monleon are in third place in the drivers/co-drivers championship after two rounds, 33 points behind the leader, while Quintero/Zenz are a three points further back. Variawa is in 13^th place.

In terms of the manufacturer’s championship, Toyota Gazoo Racing are well clear of the competition, with a total of 221 points after Round 2.

The next round of the 2025 W2RC will take place in South Africa on 18-24 May. The terrain  will be vastly different from that encountered on either the Dakar Rally or the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, but may give the local crews an edge.

Team quotes

Lucas Moraes (No203):  “I’m very happy to finish the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, as last year was my first time doing this race and we had the big issue with the car in terms of fire. We were top three every single day of the rally, so I’m really happy and happy also for the team. The team has been working really hard and we moved from ninth to third in the championship. II’m ooking forward to South Africa now.”

Seth Quintero (No204):  “This was a pretty good race for us, ending up with P3 overall. And I’m happy for Lucas with the P2, a really good double podium for the whole Toyota Gazoo Racing team. We came in knowing that we had the pace to win, but ended up doing a bit of a marathon pace instead of a sprint, because we thought that there were going to be some mistakes out front, but the guys were absolutely crushing it. We ended up having to turn up the pace a lot at the end to make up some time. We’re excited to keep improving and pushing and we’ll see what happens next.”

Guy Botterill (No211):  “We pushed a little bit harder today, but we are just super glad to get to the end. I think this race was more technical than the Dakar, just 100 per cent dunes all the time, and to keep up with Nasser and the guys in the dunes is crazy. I think our pace picked up a lot towards the end, that’s exactly why we’re here, to learn and to just get more confident in the dunes, which we are now, so it’s really good. I’m also quite happy with the sixth place for our first time at Abu Dhabi.”

Saood Variawa (No218):  “Today we had quite a good day. We started off I think in P9 or so and we had a good rhythm. We finished P5 on the stage today, one second off P4 and only like 30 seconds off P3 which was really amazing. I’m happy with that, but we lacked a little bit of pace in the rolling dunes. All these small things add up to towards Dakar, but now on to the big Safari Rally at home.”

Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge 2025 – Stage 5 Results

Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge 2025 – Final Standings

World Rally-Raid Standings after Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (Round 2) – Driver

World Rally-Raid Standings after Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (Round 2) – Manufacturer

Timings were correct at the time of publication; full stage results can be found at abudhabidesertchallenge.com.

ENDS