BURAYDAH, SAUDI ARABIA – Yazeed Al-Rajhi and German navigator Timo Gottschalk lead Qassim Rally Toyota 2024 by more than five minutes after Friday’s 238km desert stage near Buraydah.
Emirati Mohammed Al-Balooshi and Saudi Haitham Al-Tuwaijri extended their motorcycle and quad leads to 4min 57sec and 8min 59sec on a demanding stage packed with dune crossings and tricky navigation.
Al-Rajhi tests for Dakar
Starting 10th on the road, Al-Rajhi controlled his pace perfectly to win the stage and lead Ultimate T1+ in his Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux, 5min 02sec ahead of team-mates Dania Akeel and Stéphane Duplé. Czechs Miroslav Zapletal and Marek Sykora are third in their Ford F-150.
Today was a good day for us. Me and Timo did a good job not to attack too much. We did well. It’s important that we continue for the championship. Today, we test a new suspension in preparation for Dakar. I like it and that is the most important. Tomorrow, we change something to see how it feels.
Yazeed Al-Rajhi
Class leaders
Challenger front-runner Hamad Al-Harbi was the first car to finish, in 2hr 40min 24sec in his Can-Am Maverick X3, and leads by 3min 27sec from Hamza Bakhashab, who recovered from Prologue problems with the second-fastest time. Waleed Al-Dhakeel, Maha Al-Hameli and Annett Quandt follow. Abdullah Al-Haydan was fastest in SSV, leading Abdullah Al-Shegawi, Orjwan Ammar, Moaaz Hariri and Mona Kurdi. Fahad Al-Marnass unofficially leads Ultimate in his Nissan and Sufian Al-Omar tops Stock, pending route and speeding penalties. Fahad Al-Maioweed received a 10-minute penalty for missing a Prologue waypoint, losing his Stock Prologue win.
Bikes and quads
Al-Balooshi played the tactics perfectly on his KTM. Kuwait’s Abdullah Al-Shatti set the fastest stage time but is fourth overall behind Al-Balooshi, Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera and Hamdan Al-Ali after a poor Prologue. South Africa’s Hanno Geyser is fifth, while Jatin Ganesh Jain and Abdulrahman Al-Medaihesh lost lots of time. Al-Tuwaijri was again the class of the quad field and leads Abdulaziz Al-Shayban, with Hani Al-Noumesi up to third ahead of the delayed Abdulaziz Al-Atawi.
Saturday’s shorter 120km stage starts at 08:00 for bikes and 09:15 for cars, before the ceremonial finish in Buraydah.
Ultimate T1+ after stage one
- Yazeed Al-Rajhi / Timo Gottschalk (Toyota Hilux Overdrive) – 2hr 20min 29sec
- Dania Akeel / Stéphane Duplé (Toyota Hilux Overdrive) – 2hr 25min 31sec
- Miroslav Zapletal / Marek Sykora (Ford F-150) – 2hr 29min 46sec