TABUK, SAUDI ARABIA – Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk cruised to an emphatic win at the Tabuk Toyota Rally on Saturday, extending Al-Rajhi’s lead in the 2024 Saudi Toyota Championship.
Their Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux ran without issues on the final 168km selective section in the desert southwest of Tabuk, and another stage win sealed a winning margin of 16min 37sec.
It was good for us. It was not easy, very tricky actually. We have good stages in Saudi now. Before it was flat, flat and now it is more technical with good navigation and you need to focus all the time. Now we look ahead to Baja Greece.
Yazeed Al-Rajhi
Dania Akeel and Stéphane Duplé finished second overall in the second Hilux, despite getting lost for several minutes.
We had a good day except we lost around four minutes in navigation, That is part of the game. Other than that, we had a good day. The stage was narrow and quite twisty and that was good for me to get used to the car. I would love to race this car every day. We will see. I want to develop as a driver as much as I can.
Dania Akeel
Saleh Al-Saif and Qatari co-driver Nasser Al-Kuwari completed the podium and won Challenger in their Dark Horse OT3. Moaaz Hariri and Kirill Shubin were fourth and won SSV in their Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR, and Abdulaziz Al-Yaeesh topped the Ultimate class in fifth.
Hamad Al-Harbi passed Maha Al-Hameli on the final morning, but a 10-minute penalty for breaking neutralisation-zone rules dropped him to eighth, behind Al-Hameli and Owaid Al-Shammeri. Waleed Al-Dhakeel was ninth, and Jafar Al-Qahtani drove superbly to 10th and the Stock category win in his Nissan.
Bikes and quads
MX Ride Dubai’s Mohammed Al-Balooshi opened the road, set the fastest final-stage time and beat local KTM rider Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera by nearly 15 minutes on the day, winning by 27min 45sec after the Saudi also picked up a time penalty.
Really happy, so pumped with this win. I know the task was to open and full attack. The task was difficult and not impossible. I really put my head down, stayed focused and I needed more than two minutes. I got a lot more that that. I am really happy to defend this title in Tabuk. I really like all the races in Saudi Arabia. Abdulhalim (Mogheera) really kept me on my toes. He is progressing well.
Mohammed Al-Balooshi
Hamdan Al-Ali (Honda) was third and Ahmed Al-Jaber (KTM) fourth, with Kuwait’s Abdullah Al-Shatti fifth ahead of over-450cc winner Philip Horlemann and Mishal Al-Ghuneim. South Africa’s Hanno Geyser, Kuwait-based Jason Joslin and Lebanon’s Eid Rafic completed the top 10.
Haitham Al-Tuwaijri won a nail-biting quad battle on his Yamaha Raptor by just 25 seconds from Hani Al-Noumesi and Abdulaziz Al-Shayban.
The Saudi Toyota Championship continues with the Qassim Rally on October 23–26.