JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA – Yazeed Al-Rajhi, Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera and Haitham Al-Tuwaijri set the fastest times in the car, motorcycle and quad categories on Thursday’s Prologue at Jeddah Rally Toyota.
The final round of the 2024 Saudi Toyota Rally Championship drew 31 cars, 12 motorcycles and four quads, flagged away from the ceremonial start by HRH Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal, Chairman of the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF).
The car field comprised three Ultimate P entries, eight Ultimate, nine Challenger, five SSV, five Stock and one T5 truck. On the 10km stage at Khulais, which set the start order for Friday’s first desert stage, Al-Rajhi and German navigator Timo Gottschalk stopped the clock in 6min 32sec in their Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux, 16 seconds quicker than Germany’s Annett Quandt in an X-Raid Yamaha. Quandt and Swedish co-driver Annie Seel topped Challenger ahead of local driver Waleed Al-Dhakeel (MC-5).
Moaaz Hariri (Can-Am) edged Abdullah Al-Shegawi for the fastest SSV time, and Mohammed Al-Asiri set the early pace in Stock in his Nissan Patrol.
Bikes and quads
Mohammed Al-Balooshi often prefers to concede the Prologue so he can follow his rivals on the first desert stage. The KTM rider was sixth, behind winner Al-Mogheera, UAE-based Briton Alex McInnes, Ehab Al-Hakeem, Philip Horlemann and Doha-based Australian Martin Chalmers.
In quads, Al-Tuwaijri drew first blood on his Yamaha Raptor 700, level on time with Abdulaziz Al-Shayban, with Abdulaziz Al-Atawi and Hani Al-Noumesi third and fourth.
Friday’s stage covers about 191km, starting from Qudaid north of Jeddah.
Prologue – cars (top 10)
- Yazeed Al-Rajhi / Timo Gottschalk (Toyota Hilux) – 6min 32sec
- Annett Quandt / Annie Seel (X-Raid Yamaha YXZ 1000R) – 6min 48sec
- Waleed Al-Dhakeel / Egor Alexandrovich (MC-5) – 6min 54sec
- Moaaz Hariri / Kirill Shubin (Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR) – 6min 59sec
- Abdullah Al-Shegawi / Raid Al-Assaf (Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR) – 7min 06sec
- Maria Gameiro / José Marques (X-Raid Yamaha YXZ 1000R) – 7min 07sec
- Saleh Al-Saif / Albert Veliamovič (G Rally Team OT3) – 7min 10sec
- Rui Carneiro / Ole Floene (Can-Am Maverick X3) – 7min 11sec
- Miroslav Zapletal / Michal Goleniewski (Ford F-150) – 7min 12sec
- Hamza Bakhashab / Marcin Pasek (Can-Am Maverick X3) – 7min 17sec
Prologue – bikes (top 6)
- Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera (KTM) – 6min 59sec
- Alex McInnes (Husqvarna FE 450) – 7min 19sec
- Ehab Al-Hakeem (Yamaha WR 450F) – 8min 24sec
- Philip Horlemann (KTM 450 Rally Replica) – 9min 02sec
- Martin Chalmers (GasGas 450 RFR) – 9min 33sec
- Mohammed Al-Balooshi (KTM) – 9min 39sec