The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge lies ahead for Monster Energy Honda HRC

The dunes are on the horizon for Monster Energy Honda HRC as they head back to the Arabian Peninsula for round two of the 2025 World Rally-Raid Championship from 22nd to 27th February.

Now in its 34th year the rally has been won twice by a Honda rider, the late Paulo Gonçalves claimed the first Honda victory in 2014, whilst Adrien Van Beveren took the plaudits in 2023.  With over 60% of new terrain to tackle in the United Arab Emirates, the start will be at the inland oasis city of Al Ain for the very first time in the rally's history.

With the seemingly endless Empty Quarter dunes providing sensational backdrops once again, there will also be a marathon stage to contend with on stages three and four in Al Qua'a, where the overnight camp will provide competitors with plenty of star gazing opportunities as one of the darkest places in the UAE. With high temperatures and humidity to contend with across the rally the skyscrapers of the capital Abu Dhabi will race into view after 1,920 kilometres of rally-raid action six days later.

The Monster Energy Honda HRC squad come into this rally after a double podium at last month's Dakar Rally, where runner up Tosha Schareina, who rode with a broken collarbone during the second week and third placed Adrien Van Beveren put in impressive performances on their Honda CRF450 RALLY bikes.  Schareina has spent the time since his podium making television appearances in his home country alongside ensuring that he's recovered and fit for round two and his first assault on the world's ultimate desert rally.

Van Beveren returns to a happy hunting ground after his victory two years ago and after a busy month since the Dakar, which included media appearances and a victory in the Enduropale du Touquet's Vintage class beach race a week ago, aboard his 1996 Honda CR500.  He'll be taking his vast sand experience into the desert, looking to repeat his success in only his third attempt at this rally.

Ricky Brabec heads to Abu Dhabi with plenty of memories at this event, as it was the first rally-raid he ever rode in back in 2015, which then put him on the path to a factory Honda deal a year later.  Having been the runner up in 2022, and now that the American is back to being full fitness after his injury in last year's season-ending Rallye Du Maroc, he will be on the hunt for the top spot.

He'll line up alongside his fellow American Skyler Howes, who in only his third time at this event will be hoping that updates he's made in testing recently to his Honda CRF450 RALLY will help him to a stronger result, as he looks ahead to the new challenges at this second round of the season.

Having completed a shakedown test on Wednesday on their Honda CRF450 RALLY bikes, the Monster Energy Honda HRC riders have spent today doing media interviews before they reconvene tomorrow at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium for scrutineering and administration checks ahead of the press conference at the magnificent 19th century Al Jahili Fort.

The action will then kick off on Saturday with the opening prologue which will set the four Honda riders up for the days ahead.

Ruben Faria

General Manager

We are in Abu Dhabi for the second round of the World Rally-Raid Championship, shakedown is done and everything went well, riders are OK too. Tosha has had a good and fast recovery since Dakar and Ricky, Skyler and Adrien have had a good holiday since then so they all feel good. We are ready for the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge even though it can be a difficult race as it's almost 100% dunes and the weather is always hot, however the last time we raced here was in 2023 and we won with Adrien. We know that it is a good race for us, our goal is to do a good prologue and day by day ride well and try to be safe because it can be a bit dangerous with some cut dunes. The riders are happy, the bike is good and the team is ready, so let's start the race.

Ricky Brabec 9

I'm really happy to be back on the bike here in Abu Dhabi, it's a place where I took part in my first ever rally so it’s something special to me to be back after missing the event last year.  This rally has been good to us and I’m hoping for a great result, but all the teams and riders are doing a really good job. For me, I’m still working with the team to get some confidence, but this week we made a good step in the right direction and I'm hoping our result improves from the Dakar. At the Dakar I wasn’t in the best physical condition but I’m happy to have made it to the finish.

This year we plan to work very hard and come to all events strong and In 100% condition.

Skyler Howes 10

Abu Dhabi 2025 is shaping up to be a good race, I'm looking forward to racing in some new areas, going from Al Ain over to the normal desert over by Liwa that we normally race in. I think this zone will provide some different challenges and a different aspect to the race as normally it's in the same zone with loops that we always do, so to have some new tracks is really exciting and good for this race.

It's been two years since I've been to this event so I'm looking forward to getting back to racing here. Coming after Dakar we did some more testing and updates to the suspension which was a positive step so I'm looking forward to putting it to good use at the race and continue to build on the performance of the bike and improve myself as well. I think it's going to be an exciting six days in the desert out here in the UAE.

Adrien Van Beveren 42

It feels like Dakar finished yesterday! It's been a month since, but in between I've been racing Le Touquet on my vintage bike, it was lots of fun but also demanding as I needed to prepare the set up of the bike, the 500cc is not always easy, so I've been busy with that and also responding to the press and the media after my Dakar. So it's not been much of a break for me, I've not been training as much but I've been riding motorcycles mostly in the sand so I feel prepared for here because Abu Dhabi is full of dunes and there's a lot of sand so it's going to be good for me, it's my terrain which I really love so I'm happy to ride here. Like I said Dakar felt like yesterday so we didn't have time to miss each other, but it feels good to be back racing and I'm looking forward to some more kilometres like the end of the Dakar and hope to be able to push hard and get into a good rhythm.

Tosha Schareina 68

I'm happy to be here in Abu Dhabi and back on the bike after Dakar. After my collarbone injury I haven't done any riding since and have just been focused on my recovery. We have another challenge ahead because it's my first time competing in this rally and I'm so grateful for the team to be able to help me fight for the championship. I'll stay focused and pay attention in this race because it's not easy, it's more or less full dunes so a bit different to the other rallies. I'm ready to go for it.