Monster Energy Honda Team’s Paulo Gonçalves and Kevin Benavides got their Abu Dhabi adventure underway with a technical first stage. Gonçalves posted fourth and Benavides sixth in a race that promises to be tightly-fought over the coming stages.

Some three months after the Dakar, where the riders of Monster Energy Honda Team last saw real competition, the squad’s duo were back in the thick of the action today with the first full stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge with 276.59 km of Special. Both Portuguese rider Paulo Gonçalves and Argentinean Kevin Benavides had a good day’s racing as they attempted to distance themselves from yesterday’s higher finishers who started out from positions behind them.

Riding in the dunes is far more difficult for the competitors who open the track, whilst those behind can retrace the tracks left ahead of them and gather vital information about the state of the course and how to make up time.

Paulo Gonçalves finished fourth on the day conceding three minutes to table-topping Sam Sunderland. Gonçalves will get a shot at clawing the time back tomorrow in another dune-filled stage in the desert to the west of Abu Dhabi.

For Kevin Benavides, getting his first chance to explore the extraordinary landscapes of the Middle Eastern country, has been something of a revelation as the young rider has the opportunity to compare the Arabian dunes to those of his native South America. Kevin opted for a steady pace today in a bid to get to grips with the CRF450 RALLY.

Paulo Goncalves

STAGE: 4th. +3'05 OVERALL: 4th. +3'10

Today we started with a fairly good stage in Abu Dhabi. It turned out to be better than expected as we had many riders behind and only three managed to catch me up. Tomorrow, I will try and do the best that I can to make the time up and try and enjoy myself with Monster Energy Honda Team. The bike is running perfectly and I just have to try and do my best in each of the stages.

Kevin Benavides

STAGE: 6th. +9'14 OVERALL: 6th. +9'22

I’m pretty happy. This has been the first stage back after a long time out. It’s a tough race and being open points, it’s a very fast pace in the desert. It is incredible – very picturesque and a lot different to what I had imagined. There are a lot of short dunes and you have to be really careful. I have to be careful with the hand too, but I picked the pace up for the final part, feeling more confident on the bike. I think that I had a good stage.

2017 Cross-Country Rallies
Stage Round FIM-1 , 1   Abu Dhabi

Results Stage 1

Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Sunderland Sam GBR KTM Factory Racing Team KTM 3:29'22
2 Quintanilla Pablo CHI Husqvarna Factory Rally Team Husqvarna +0'3
3 Walkner Matthias AUT KTM Factory Racing Team KTM +1'04
4 Goncalves Paulo POR Monster Energy Honda Team Honda +3'05
5 Renet Pierre-Alexandre FRA Husqvarna Factory Rally Team Husqvarna +6'36
6 Benavides Kevin ARG Monster Energy Honda Team Honda +9'14
7 Meo Antoine FRA KTM Factory Racing Team KTM +20'03
8 Jaffar Mohammed UAE KTM +24'57
9 Al Balooshi Mohammed UAE Ride to Abu Dhabi Team KTM +36'45
10 McBride David GBR Vendetta Racing KTM +42'28
2017 Cross-Country Rallies
Stage Round FIM-1 , 1   Abu Dhabi
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Sunderland Sam GBR KTM Factory Racing Team KTM 3:31'09.5
2 Quintanilla Pablo CHI Husqvarna Factory Rally Team Husqvarna +5.7
3 Walkner Matthias AUT KTM Factory Racing Team KTM +1'07.1
4 Goncalves Paulo POR Monster Energy Honda Team Honda +3'10.3
5 Renet Pierre-Alexandre FRA Husqvarna Factory Rally Team Husqvarna +6'39.8
6 Benavides Kevin ARG Monster Energy Honda Team Honda +9'22.0
7 Meo Antoine FRA KTM Factory Racing Team KTM +20'03.6
8 Jaffar Mohammed UAE KTM +25'33.0
9 Al Balooshi Mohammed UAE Ride to Abu Dhabi Team KTM +36'58.2
10 McBride David GBR Vendetta Racing KTM +42'56.1
Location Information

The legendary UAE Desert Challenge, one of the world’s most prestigious international cross country rallies founded by Emirati Motorsport legend, former EMSO President and the new FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem back in 1991, and over the years has seen many of the biggest names in international motorsport tackle the… read more.

Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates - View in Google Maps

Records

2021 Matthias Walkner (KTM)
2019 Sam Sunderland (KTM)
2018 Pablo Quintanilla (Husqvarna)
2017 Sam Sunderland (KTM)
2016 Toby Price (KTM)
2015 Marc Coma (KTM)
2014 Paulo Gonçalves (Honda)