BURAYDAH, SAUDI ARABIA – Yazeed Al-Rajhi, Mohammed Al-Balooshi and Haitham Al-Tuwaijri set the fastest car, motorcycle and quad times on the opening 3.51km Prologue of Rally Qassim Toyota 2023 on Thursday afternoon.
Thirty-one cars, one truck, 12 motorcycles and six quads were flagged away from the ceremonial start at Al-Qassim National Park-Osseilan in Buraydah by SAMF President HRH Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal and HRH Prince Dr Faisal bin Misha’al bin Saud bin Abdulaziz, Governor of Al-Qassim Province. Round three of the Saudi Toyota Championship is organised by the SAMF with the Ministry of Sport and Abdul Latif Jameel Motors.
Defending champion Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk set 1min 53sec in their Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux, seven seconds faster than Toyota Gazoo Racing’s new official driver Lucas Moraes and Spanish co-driver Armand Monleón and Yazeed Racing’s Saleh Alabdulali and Mohammed Al-Naim in a third Toyota.
This is the last rally for me before Dakar. I’m looking forward to it. Full attack from the start….
Lucas Moraes
Dark Horse Team’s Saleh Al-Saif was fastest in T3 and fourth overall in his Can-Am Maverick X3, a second ahead of Yasir Seaidan, while 11th-placed Ahmed Al-Shegawi led five T4 runners. Ibrahim Al-Muhanna, Faisal Al-Suwayh and Raed Abu Theeb are the only T5 crew in their Mercedes truck.
Newly crowned FIM Bajas World Cup champion Al-Balooshi set 2min 18sec on his KTM to beat Anas Al-Rahyani by two seconds, with Qatar-based Martin Chalmers third. Al-Tuwaijri beat Qatar-based Emiel Stuckens by 15 seconds in the quads.
Friday’s 186km Ash Shimasiyah desert stage starts at 09:05 for the first bike and 10:35 for the first car.