Tosha Schareina was looking like the man to beat when he kicked off the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge leg of the World Rally Raid Championship 2025 with a prologue win and backed it up with a victory in leg 2 , the first big day in the Saudi Arabian dunes . Winning the prologue gave Tosha a prime starting spot , heading off in tenth ( the frontrunners get to choose their starting positions after the prologue ), so not having to rely totally on navigation as there were riders leaving tracks ahead of him . At the end of the 243km stage , he had eked out a handy 2m 7s gap over his second-placed teammate , Ricky Brabec , securing a Honda one-two after he rode hard and smart to overhaul three of his rivals and get himself up from fifth at the beginning of the day ’ s racing . But , that ’ s not the way it finished . KTM ’ s Daniel Sanders kept plugging away to take the win , extending his lead in the 2025 FIM World Rally- Raid Championship to 17 points . Dominating round two in the United Arab Emirates , Sanders secured two stage wins and finished nearly six minutes ahead of Tosha Schariena and Ricky Brabec ( on the Hondas ). Sanders carried his dominant Dakar Rally form into the 2025 Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge , engaging in a fierce fight for the win with Schareina , the two riders trading places at the top of the leaderboard . However , Sanders ’ stage four win and a solid fourth-place finish on the final day ultimately secured his overall victory . Sanders leaves Abu Dhabi with a 17-point lead in the championship ahead of round three in South Africa . Daniel Sanders : “ This one is a really great victory to tick off as last time I was here , I lost out on the win on the final day which was tough . I felt great all week and it ’ s amazing to have won three races in a row now . I ’ m really enjoying riding , my KTM is running perfectly , and I can ’ t thank everyone in the team enough for their hard work to get us to this point .”