QASSIM RALLY TOYOTA 2024

Saudi Toyota Championship, round 3 – October 23rd-26th, 2024

For immediate release

Friday, October 25th, 2024

AL-RAJHI AND GOTTSCHALK PULL AWAY FROM THEIR RIVALS AT QASSIM RALLY TOYOTA

  • Al-Balooshi and Al-Tuwaijri extend their motorcycle and quad leads after stage one

BURAYDAH (SAUDI ARABIA): Yazeed Al-Rajhi and his German navigator Timo Gottschalk led Qassim Rally Toyota 2024 by over five minutes after a 238km special stage through the challenging desert near Buraydah on Friday morning.

Emirati Mohammed Al-Balooshi and Saudi rider Haitham Al-Tuwaijri increased the leads in their respective motorcycle and quad categories to 4min 57sec and 8min 59sec after impressive runs through the demanding stage that featured numerous dune crossings and tricky navigation.

Al-Rajhi controlled his pace to perfection from a starting position of 10th on the road to romp to the stage win and top the times in the Ultimate T1+ section in his Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux. The Riyadh driver beat team–mates Dania Akeel and Stéphane Duplé by 5min 02sec. The Czech duo of Miroslav Zapletal and Marek Sykora slotted into third place in their Offroad Sport Ford F-150.

Al-Rajhi said: “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.”

Challenger category front-runner Hamad Al-Harbi was the first car competitor to finish the stage in a time of 2hr 40min 24sec in his Can-Am Maverick X3. The Saudi led the section for lightweight prototype cross-country machines by 3min 27sec from Hamza Bakhashab, who recovered strongly from mechanical issues on the Prologue to set the second quickest time. Waleed Al-Dhakeel, Maha Al-Hameli and Annett Quandt rounded off the Challenger runners.

Abdullah Al-Haydan guided his Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR to the fastest time in the SSV category to lead from Abdullah Al-Shegawi, Orjwan Ammar, Moaaz Hariri and Mona Kurdi.

Fahad Al-Marnass was the unofficial leader of the Ultimate category in his Nissan and Sufian Al-Omar topped the Stock times, although results were unofficial pending route and speeding penalties to be imposed later.

Fahad Al-Maioweed was deemed to have missed a waypoint on the Prologue and incurred a 10-minute penalty, thus depriving the Saudi of the previous evening’s Prologue win in the Stock category.

Al-Balooshi played the tactics perfectly in the two-wheel section to maintain his advantage after winning the Prologue on his KTM. Kuwait’s Abdullah Al-Shatti earned the fastest time on the special but held fourth in the general classification behind Al-Balooshi and Saudi rivals Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera and Hamdan Al-Ali after a poor Prologue result.

South Africa’s Hanno Geyser settled into fifth on his KTM but Jatin Ganesh Jain and Abdulrahman Al-Medaihesh suffered major time delays on the stage.

Quad championship leader Haitham Al-Tuwaijri was again the class of the field on his Yamaha Raptor and now leads the category by 8min 59sec from Abdulaziz Al-Shayban. Hani Al-Noumesi moved up to third at the expense of Abdulaziz Al-Atawi. Abdulrahman Alabdullatif, like Al-Atawi, suffered hefty on-stage delays.

The third round of the 2024 Saudi Toyota Championship is being organised by the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF) in conjunction with the Ministry of Sport and in partnership with Jameel Motorsports as an official partner and the Saudi Investment Bank as a strategic partner.

Tomorrow (Saturday), competitors tackle a shorter second stage of 120km before a return to Buraydah for the ceremonial finish. The first bikes take to the stage from 08.00hrs with the leading car in action at 09.15hrs.

Qassim Rally Toyota 2024 – positions after SS1 (unofficial @ 15.05hrs):

Ultimate T1+

  1. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 2hr 20min 29sec
  2. Dania Akeel (SAU)/Stéphane Duplé (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive 2hr 25min 31sec
  3. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Marek Sykora (SVK) Ford F-150 2hr 29min 46sec

Ultimate

  1. Fahad Al-Marnass (SAU)/Yazeed Al-Shammeri (SAU) Nissan Patrol 2hr 52min 19sec
  2. Faris Al-Moshna (SAU)/Saud Al-Tamimi (SAU) Nissan 2hr 55min 19sec
  3. Khaled Al-Shammeri (SAU)/Majid Al-Shammeri (SAU) Nissan Patrol 3hr 00min 18sec
  4. Hussain Al-Albaid (SAU)/Fahad Al-Omar (SAU) Nissan Patrol 3hr 03min 10sec
  5. Mutair Al-Shammeri (SAU)/Eisa Al-Shammeri (SAU) Nissan Pick-Up 3hr 04min 14sec
  6. Mohammed Al-Harqan (SAU)/Mohammed Al-Dawish (SAU) Nissan Patrol 3hr 25min 03sec
  7. Abdulaziz Al-Yaeesh (SAU)/Omar Al-Lahim (SAU) Nissan 4hr 00min 22sec, etc

Challenger

  1. Hamad Al-Harbi (SAU)/Aleksei Kuzmich (ARE) Can-Am Maverick X3 2hr 40min 24sec
  2. Hamza Bakhashab (SAU)/Martin Pasek (POL) Can-Am Maverick X3 2hr 43min 51sec
  3. Waleed Al-Dhakeel (SAU)/Egor Okhotnikov (ANA) G Rally Team OT3 2hr 50min 52sec
  4. Maha Al-Hameli (SAU)/Oriol Mena (ESP) Can-Am Maverick X3 2hr 54min 51sec
  5. Annett Quandt (DEU)/Annie Seel (SWE) Yamaha YXZ 1000R 3hr 03min 54sec

SSV

  1. Abdullah Al-Haydan (SAU)/Bader Al-Ajmi (ARE) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR 2hr 38min 29sec
  2. Abdullah Al-Shegawi (SAU)/Raid Al-Asaf (SAU) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR 2hr 44min 34sec
  3. Orjwan Ammar (SAU)/Khalid Al-Kendi (ARE) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR 2hr 55min 59sec
  4. Moaaz Hariri (SAU)/Kirill Shubin (KGZ) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR 2hr 57min 37sec
  5. Mona Kurdi (SAU)/Albert Veliamovič (LTU) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR 3hr 25min 38sec

Stock

  1. Sufian Al-Omar (SAU)/Yasir Al-Khuraif (SAU) Nissan Patrol 2hr 54min 28sec
  2. Majed Al-Thunayyan (SAU)/Fahad Al-Sufyani (SAU) Nissan Patrol 3hr 14min 59sec
  3. Mohammed Asiri (SAU)/Sulaiman Al-Oraini (SAU) Nissan Patrol 3hr 38min 11sec
  4. Jafar Al-Qahtani (SAU)/Hussam Al-Zahrani (SAU) Nissan Patrol 3hr 38min 40sec, etc

Bikes

  1. Mohammed Al-Balooshi (ARE) KTM Rally Bike 3hr 27min 21sec
  2. Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera (SAU) KTM Rally Bike 3hr 32min 18sec
  3. Hamdan Al-Ali (ARE) Honda CRF 450RX 3hr 38min 54sec
  4. Abdullah Al-Shatti (KWT) Kawasaki KX450 3hr 39min 24sec
  5. Hanno Geyser (ZAF) KTM Rally Replica 3hr 41min 53sec
  6. Mishal Al-Ghuneim (SAU) Husqvarna 450 Rally Replica 3hr 45min 09sec
  7. Ahmed Al-Jaber (SAU) KTM EXC 450 3hr 49min 21sec
  8. Philip Horlemann (ARE) Husqvarna FE501 3hr 59min 16sec
  9. Rafic Eid (LBN) Gas Hurlimann 450 Rally Replica 4hr 01min 32sec
  10. Ehab Al-Hakeem (SAU) Fantic Rally Factory 4hr 49min 09sec
  11. Badr Al-Hamdan (SAU) Kove 5hr 08min 34sec
  12. Jatin Ganesh Jain (LBN) Kove Rally Pro 450 5hr 50min 30sec
  13. Abdulrahman Al-Medaihesh (SAU) Yamaha WR450F 6hr 07min 16sec

Quads

  1. Haitham Al-Tuwaijri (SAU) Yamaha Raptor 700 3hr 35min 02sec
  2. Abdulaziz Al-Shayban (SAU) Yamaha Raptor 700 3hr 44min 01sec
  3. Hani Al-Noumesi (SAU) Yamaha Raptor 700 4hr 07min 18sec
  4. Abdulrahman Alabdullatif (SAU) CF Moto C Force 1000 6hr 07min 27sec
  5. Abdulaziz Al-Atawi (SAU) Yamaha Raptor 700 8hr 42min 48sec

Ends

SPORTITY APP – Code QASSIM24AUTO and QASSIM24MOTO

For further information: Saudi Toyota Championship (saudi-championship.com)

Follow the results live: CIS – RALLY

 

 

Published On: 25 October 2024