Abu Dhabi World Rally-Raid Championship: Stage 3 win for Toby Price

Results from stage three of the 2023 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, round two of the World Rally-Raid Championship where a hefty two-minute penalty costs Pablo Quintanilla the day and overall lead handing Toby Price a win.

ADDC stage 3 in a nutshell:

• After close to four hours of racing, Toby Price completed the timed special just 16 seconds ahead of Pablo Quintanilla, securing his first stage win of the ’23 ADDC. But the stage win only came after Pablo Quintanilla had been handed a hefty two minute penalty for speeding – it’s a penalty which put him into second on the day and cost the Chilean the overall rally lead.
• Skyler Howes was third 19'' back and Cornejo fourth and just 35'' seconds back – this remains a super-close fight with the top three within 20 seconds. Adrien Van Beveren completed the Honda mobbing of the top spots again in fifth, 1'03'' back and retains the rally lead.
• Stage three of the ADDC looped out of Liwa dishing riders up a total distance of 303 kilometres. The 266-kilometer timed special was physically one of the toughest of the event so far; “It was still tough out there with some unpredictable dunes,” says stage winner Price, “but I was able to find a better rhythm and keep up a good pace. It would still be easy to make a mistake and risk injury so you have to stay completely focused all the time. A stage win today, which is great, it just doesn’t give me the best start position for tomorrow’s long stage four.”
• Pablo Quintanilla will curse the speeding penalty, a harsh two minutes, but news from the Honda camp tonight largely ignores the fact. Instead they’re focused more on how physical the rally is and keeping consistent for the remaining two days.
• Skyler Howes delivered another consistent ride to complete the stage in third. The American, who set off third into the special, held his own while racing up near the front of the pack, and after collecting just over two minutes in bonuses, secured a top-three result for the second stage in a row, narrowly missing out on the stage win by just 19 seconds. The result moves Skyler from eighth to fifth in the provisional overall standings.
• “It was also overcast with a lot of cloud cover and that makes visibility in the dunes really bad, so it’s difficult to see any dune cuts, or much of anything for that matter.” Explained Howes. “I caught up with the guys in front just before the refuelling, but it was definitely Luciano and Nacho (Cornejo) that took the reins opening the stage and did a really good job keeping the pace high. I’m actually quite happy with the day, but man it was physically demanding for sure. I’m looking forward to getting a bit of rest now ahead of the final two days.”

• In the general rankings Adrien Van Beveren remains in charge of the ADDC ahead of his teammate Quintanilla by 43 seconds after his speeding penalty. Toby Price is 2.56 back in third place, only four seconds ahead of Nacho Cornejo which means a Honda one-two-three is still possible here.
• Italian Paulo Lucci is streaking away with the Rally 2 clas and now sits 23 minutes for the good.

ADDC stage 3 results:

ADDC classification after stage 3, RallyGP class:

Photo Credit: Rally Zone + A.S.O/DPPI/J.Delfosse