BURAYDAH, SAUDI ARABIA – Yazeed Al-Rajhi, Mohammed Al-Balooshi and Haitham Al-Tuwaijri sealed impressive car, motorcycle and quad victories at Rally Qassim Toyota 2023 on Saturday.
Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk started the final day of round three of the Saudi Toyota Championship 2min 41sec ahead of Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleón. Their Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux lost the stage by four seconds to Al-Rajhi’s former team-mates but won by 2min 37sec – his third straight Qassim win after 2019 and 2022. Second place gave Moraes a perfect pre-Dakar boost with his new team.
Today, we take it easy because we had a good gap. It was tricky navigation and the bikes take a lot of tracks to the right and the left. It was not easy to follow the plan to take our decision. Timo did a great job and so did the team and we win the race. Now we prepare for Jeddah and then Dakar – the big one!
Yazeed Al-Rajhi
Returning after a short break, Saleh Alabdulali and Mohammed Al-Naim took third in their Yazeed Racing-backed Toyota Hilux to complete a Toyota podium sweep.
Race World’s Yasir Seaidan and Michael Metge won T3 in fourth overall in their Can-Am Maverick X3. Dark Horse Team’s Saleh Al-Saif recovered from an overnight two-minute speeding penalty with the third fastest final-stage time to finish fifth and second in T3.
Khalid Al-Feraihi and Sébastien Delaunay were sixth in their Nissan. Dania Akeel and Stéphane Duplé finished seventh and third in T3 in their R-X Sport Maverick.
The last stage was very enjoyable. The terrain changed a lot, so we had some nice tracks and some dunes. It was very nice. It reminded me of a bit of Ha’il and some bits reminded me a little of the Empty Quarter. I enjoyed the navigation very much. We had a lot of cap changes and that was great training for Dakar stages.
Dania Akeel
Rashid Al-Ketbi and Ali Mirza were eighth and fourth in T3, with Abdullah Al-Haydan and Abdulaziz Al-Yaeesh completing the top 10. Abdullah Al-Sanad, 13th, won T2 ahead of Majed Al-Thunayyan and Sufian Al-Omar after overnight leader Mohammed Al-Asiri received 30 minutes of penalties for missing waypoints. Maha Al-Hameli won T4 by nearly 10 minutes from Ahmed Al-Shegawi, and Ibrahim Al-Muhanna, Faisal Al-Suwayh and Raed Abu Theeb finished in the only T5 truck despite a puncture on stage one.
Bikes and quads
The final 121km Al-Mithnab stage was rutted after heavy rain, but the dunes were firmer and the leading riders finished in under two hours. FIM Bajas World Cup champion Al-Balooshi was fastest again to win by 3min 33sec. Anas Al-Rahyani was second, 18 seconds behind on the stage, and Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera third after Martin Chalmers broke down. Emiratis Hamdan Al-Ali and Marwan Al-Ramani were fourth and fifth.
A 16-minute waypoint penalty for Qatar-based Belgian Emiel Stuckens eased the pressure on Al-Tuwaijri, who won the quads by 27min 10sec on his Yamaha. Hani Al-Noumesi was third and Abdulaziz Al-Atawi fourth after an 18-minute penalty.
The event was organised by the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF) with the Ministry of Sport, official partner Abdul Latif Jameel Motors Toyota and strategic partner Saudi Investment Bank, under SAMF President HRH Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal. The final round is in Jeddah on December 14–16.