Qatar’s Adel Abdulla confirmed second position in the T2 standings at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge with the fastest time in the final 218.57km selective section from Hameem to the south of Abu Dhabi on Thursday morning.

Driving a rented Nissan Safari Y61 in insipid heat, the Qatari and navigator Nasser Al-Kuwari carded a stage-winning time of 3hrs 23min 22sec and managed to shave 11min 38sec off rival Ahmed Shegawi’s eventual winning margin of 45min 53.9sec.

The performance also earned Adel 12th in the overall standings – a particularly impressive result with a near-standard car on one of the toughest cross-country events in the world.