Yazeed Al-Rajhi, Hamdan Al-Ali and Haitham Al-Tuwaijri won the car, motorcycle and quad categories after Saturday’s second 131km selective section of Rally Jeddah.
The fourth and final round of the Saudi Toyota Rally Championship was organised by the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF) with the Ministry of Sport and in partnership with Abdul Latif Jameel (ALJ) Motors, under the patronage of the Governor of Jeddah, His Highness Prince Saud bin Abdullah bin Jalawi.
The final section started and finished in the historic agricultural governorate of Khulais. Al-Rajhi won for the third day running, and the Riyadh driver and co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz took overall victory in their Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux by 27min 30sec from Miroslav Zapletal and Marek Sykora.
A fourth straight win, following victories at Aseer, Qassim and the Saudi Baja, comfortably secured Al-Rajhi the Saudi Toyota Rally Championship title.
Sure, we are happy. We finish the championship and everything has been good for us this year. Thanks to the organiser for putting on this great championship. It was a different route than last time and we enjoyed it a lot. Dirk and the team did a great job. We are ready now. The target will now be the Dakar. It will not be easy but we have a good car and a good team.
Yazeed Al-Rajhi
The Black Horse team’s Saleh Al-Saif and co-driver Egor Okhotnikov completed the podium in their Can-Am Maverick X3 and won T3.
First time here in Rally Jeddah and it was a great round-up for the season. We had excellent stages though it was tough. We had a strategy that we followed so we finished the rally in third place and first in the T3 class and, subsequently, we won the T3 title in the championship.
Saleh Al-Saif
Saudi Border Guard team driver Khaled Al-Feraihi and French co-driver Sébastien Delaunay finished fourth overall and won the National Championship, while Dania Akeel and Uruguayan navigator Sergio Lafuente were fifth and second in T3.
I won the National Rally title. Unfortunately, we will not participate in the next Dakar. We are still learning and gaining experience. It was a very difficult rally with rocky and wadi sections but we finished without major issues.
Khaled Al-Feraihi
We had a great time. We had a lot of different tracks, rocks, open flats and mountains and really good practice for Dakar. I gained a lot of experience this season. I am understanding the Can-Am from South Racing more and more.
Dania Akeel
Ahmed Al-Shegawi and Alexei Kuzmich were the first T2 finishers in sixth to clinch the T2 title. Maha Al-Hameli and Sweden’s Annie Seel held off a late challenge from Saeed Al-Mouri and Jordanian navigator Ata Al-Hmoud to win T4 and finish 12th overall, a result that earned the Saudi driver the T4 title.
The rally was good. I was just trying to finish and not trying to push. We took one penalty (15 minutes) yesterday. Today Ata asked me to push and we passed a T3 car and followed the cars in front. We should keep this momentum for next year.
Saeed Al-Mouri
Ibrahim Al-Muhanna, Osama Al-Sanad and Raed Abu Theeb won the T5 truck category in their Mercedes.
Al-Ali wins on two wheels
Husqvarna rider Hamdan Al-Ali kept his cool over the closing kilometres to win the over 450cc motorcycle class. The Emirati finished 12min 52sec ahead of Saudi Security Forces Team rider Anass Al-Reheyani, who won the under 450cc category.
Saudi rider Mishael Al-Ghuneim completed the podium on his final event before the Dakar in January and was second in the up to 450cc section.
It was an excellent rally but very difficult. I am so happy to finish in the first place.
Hamdan Al-Ali
We enjoyed the event though it was my first participation here in Jeddah. We finished the rally in second place and first in the 450cc class. It was not easy. I didn’t expect the rally to be so hard, especially the rocky sections that forced us to ride slowly.
Anass Al-Reheyani
Haitham Al-Tuwaijri was the only quad rider to avoid time penalties and comfortably won the category on his Yamaha from Hani Al-Noumesi and Abdulmajeed Al-Khulaifi.
Excellent day today, but we had some difficult sections in yesterday’s stage, especially at the end. I won the quads title in both the championship and the rally.
Haitham Al-Tuwaijri