South Racing-built Can-Ams dominated the FIA T3 and T4 classes at the tough Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, and T4 victory gave American Austin Jones the 2021 FIA T4 Drivers’ title in his Monster Energy-backed Can-Am Maverick.
South Racing cars filled the T4 podium at the penultimate round of the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies and finished first, third and fifth in T3.
Jones and Brazilian navigator Gustavo Gugelmin suffered from their road position early on in the remote Empty Quarter, but managed their pace when it counted and won by 11min 38sec after second place on the final stage. They were also a remarkable sixth overall behind five more powerful T1 cars.
Marek Goczal and Lukasz Laskawiec led for much of the race and were just over a minute behind Jones going into the final stage. Sixth-fastest time on the last day ended their win hopes, but they finished second in their Energylandia Rally Team Can-Am.
Fastest time on the last stage, plus dune trouble for Dutchman Kees Koolen and co-driver Mirjam Pol, let Monster Energy Can-Am Team pair Aron Domzala and Maciej Marton take third. Koolen got stuck in soft sand and fell from third to sixth.
South Racing Middle East ran three cars alongside the main South Racing team, and UAE driver Mansour Al-Helai finished fourth with co-driver Abdullah Dakhan. Italians Eugenio Amos and Paulo Ceci won stage four and finished fifth, while Michal Goczal and Szymon Gospodarczyk were seventh in the second Energylandia Can-Am.
Brazil’s Rodrigo de Oliveira Luppi and Maykel Justo finished eighth.
This was a big experience for Rodrigo, good training for Dakar and only his third time in the dunes. It was also my first time in Abu Dhabi. It was so difficult for us. We broke the drive shaft on day one and the gear arm on day two and lost around 15 minutes to change it.
Maykel Justo
Australia’s Molly Taylor and Dale Moscatt were ninth, and South Racing Middle East’s Thomas Bell and Bruno Jacomy were 10th after surviving an early roll in the dunes.
Al-Saif wins T3
Bell’s consolation was an outright FIA T3 win for Saudi Arabia’s Saleh Al-Saif and Egor Okhotikov in a South Racing Middle East Can-Am, 47min 26sec ahead of Cristina Gutierrez.
South Racing Can-Ams were also third and fifth, with Spain’s Fernando Alvarez and Frenchman Xavier Panseri third and Sweden’s Sebastien Eriksson and Spain’s Oriol Mena fifth. Russians Pavel Lebedev and Kirill Shubin led for a time before engine trouble. Because of dropped scores, Alvarez can no longer win the title at next month’s final round in Saudi Arabia.
This was a great result for the South Racing brand, as well as our South Racing Middle East structure, taking wins in both the T4 and T3 categories and, at the same time, winning the T4 World Cup with Austin Jones after a hard-fought year. This was to add to the T4 Teams’ World Championship and the superb performances we also showed in the FIA Baja series this season.
Scott Abraham, South Racing Can-Am Team
The Can-Am Maverick showed yet again that it is the best performing side-by-side vehicle in the business. It was a great overall result and performance for the whole team on one of the most demanding rallies in the world calendar.
Scott Abraham
How it unfolded
Marek Goczal led T4 by 54 seconds from local driver Mansour Al-Helai after the opening 265.04km section from Abu Dhabi to the Qasr Al-Sarab bivouac. Series leader Jones was third, with Amos and Michal Goczal completing the top five; all 11 T4 runners finished without major problems.
The dunes here are scary. There are a lot of drop-offs and a lot of weird things that you have to deal with. You can never relax. You always have to be on the wheel watching. It’s so hard here. It doesn’t feel super hot but when you are in the car it is burning.
Austin Jones
Alvarez led T3 by 13 seconds from Al-Saif and Lebedev, with series leader Gutierrez fourth.
We had a clean stage and no problems. We didn’t take any risks and we won the stage in our category.
Fernando Alvarez
Jones took the T4 lead with fastest time on the 318.02km second loop through the dunes and gatch roads of the Rub Al-Khali, winning by 2min 26sec to lead Marek Goczal by 2min 22sec. Amos, Al-Helai and Koolen completed the top five, but Bell rolled in the dunes, and Germany’s Annett Fischer crashed heavily in the same spot. A broken drive shaft after 100km cost Michal Goczal dearly, though team-mate Rodrigo Luppi helped free his Can-Am from soft sand.
We had a really good day. We kept a good pace but we had a little bit of a problem about 10km from the finish. We had to take it down a couple of notches but we had a good day.
Austin Jones
It was a very long day and the first part of the stage was with big dunes. Half an hour before the refuelling I lost a bit of concentration and we went slower. In the last section we went flat out. At one point we had 27km without a note…
Eugenio Amos
Lebedev won the T3 stage to lead Al-Saif by 4min 46sec, while Alvarez slipped to fourth behind Gutierrez. Eriksson recovered from day-one electrical trouble but lost about an hour repairing a wheel bearing.
The dunes here are fantastic. It’s like a big playground for men!
Sebastien Eriksson
Marek Goczal won the 289.75km third loop, beating Al-Helai by 2min 01sec to retake the lead from road-opener Jones and run a superb fifth overall. Jones was fifth on the stage behind Domzala and Koolen, losing nearly six minutes.
Opening the road is hard. We’ve opened up every day this race. It’s crazy. Everyone else is able to follow and gets a ride. It’s been tough for us to make up time. No problems and we ran at a good pace.
Austin Jones
Every day you have to concentrate like crazy, because if you miss one drop down you can crash. I always drive in a disciplined way here. Days two, three and four are always in the dunes and very difficult. Very tiring days.
Kees Koolen
Bell was back after his day-two roll, but penalties left him near the bottom of T4. Al-Saif won the T3 stage by 11 seconds from Gutierrez to lead Lebedev by just two seconds, while Alvarez broke a drive shaft, got stuck in a dune in two-wheel drive and took costly penalties.
Amos won the 251.93km fourth stage by 4min 02sec, and Jones took the lead with third-fastest time behind Michal Goczal, 61 seconds ahead of sixth-placed Marek Goczal going into the final day. Al-Saif won T3 from Alvarez and stretched his lead over Gutierrez to 1hr 01min 22sec after Lebedev had engine trouble having driven 50km with the oil light on.
Second place behind Domzala on the final stage sealed the title and the Abu Dhabi win for Jones. Koolen’s late retirement lifted Domzala to third in T4 behind Marek Goczal, Al-Saif safely defended his big lead to win T3, and Alvarez confirmed third.
FIA T4 result
- 1. Austin Jones (USA)/Gustavo Gugelmin (BRA) Monster Energy Can-Am Maverick XRS 19hr 29min 24sec
- 2. Marek Goczal (POL)/Lukasz Laskawiec (POL) Can-Am Maverick XRS 19hr 41min 02sec
- 3. Aron Domzala (POL)/Maciej Marton (POL) Monster Energy Can-Am Maverick XRS 19hr 45min 16sec
- 4. Mansour Al-Helai (ARE)/Abdullah Dakhan (ARE) South Racing ME Can-Am Maverick XRS 20hr 09min 18sec