JEDDAH RALLY TOYOTA 2024   

Saudi Toyota Rally Championship, round 4 – December 19th-21st, 2024

For immediate release  

Saturday, December 21st, 2024

AL-RAJHI SECURES FOURTH SAUDI RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE WITH VICTORY AT JEDDAH RALLY TOYOTA

  • Alex McInnes and Haitham Al-Tuwaijri earn motorcycle and quad victories
  • Challenger, SSV and Stock wins for Seaidan, Al-Shegawi and Al-Qahtani

JEDDAH (SAUDI ARABIA): Yazeed Al-Rajhi and his German navigator Timo Gottschalk carried out road-opening duties on the final 103km stage and led from start-to-finish to secure a fourth successive Saudi Toyota Rally Championship for the Riyadh driver with his fifth career victory at Jeddah Rally Toyota.

The Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux crew won the final stage by 3min 01sec to secure a comfortable 11min 03sec margin over their team-mates and eventual runners-up Dania Akeel and Stéphane Duplé.

Al-Rajhi said: “We are happy. Most important, we win the championship and we win the race and are ready for Dakar. I am happy to win every race and take the title, my fourth. The team has done a great job this season and we have improved the car a lot.”

Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera had started the final stage five seconds behind UAE-based Briton Alex McInnes in the motorcycle standings. He used his position of fourth on the road to full advantage to snatch the stage win by 23 seconds and secure a provisional victory on two wheels by 18 seconds from McInnes. Then he was awarded a one-minute time penalty after the finish and that gifted McInnes outright success by 42 seconds. Mohammed Al-Balooshi secured the overall Saudi Toyota Rally Championship.

Al-Mogheera said: “From a navigational point of view, this rally was very difficult. I managed to finish in first place (before the time penalty). This gives me a big boost, because the stages in Jeddah are very similar to Dakar. This means I am ready for the challenge of Dakar and the confidence is very high after the win.”

Hani Al-Noumesi claimed the day’s victory in the quad category but Haitham Al-Tuwaijri did enough to win the category and seal the Saudi Quad Championship for a third successive year.

Al-Tuwaijri said: “This was a fantastic rally. Yesterday was amazing in the rain and it was very exciting. I’m so proud to win the Saudi Rally Championship for the third time in a row. It’s a hat-trick! My aim is to win again next year for the fourth time, in addition to winning the (FIM Bajas) World Cup next year.”

Yasir Seaidan was second quickest on the day in his Taurus T3 Max behind Al-Rajhi and that was sufficient to secure victory in the Challenger category and the final place on the overall car podium. “The stages were very cool, diverse and included different terrain,” said Seaidan. “This was perfect as we prepare for Dakar, so we really benefitted a lot from these stages. I’m optimistic that this result is the perfect way to head into the start of next year.”

Waleed Al-Dhakeel (Taurus MC-5) finished nearly 10 minutes behind Seaidan to claim fourth overall and Czech driver Miroslav Zapletal rounded off the top five and was third in the Ultimate P category in his self-built Ford F-150 Evo.

Dark Horse G Rally Team OT3 driver Saleh Al-Saif managed to pass Germany’s Annett Quandt on the final morning to finish sixth overall and third in Challenger, although both Quandt and her team-mate Maria Gameiro delivered a strong competition debut for the X-Raid Fenic: they finished seventh and ninth with local driver Hamad Al-Harbi sealing eighth. Al-Saif’s result means he pipped Al-Harbi to the Saudi Challenger title.

Abdullah Al-Shegawi (Can-Am) rounded off the top 10 and led the way in the SSV category, while Saudi Border Guard driver Jafar Al-Qahtani won the Stock section for series-production cross-country machines in his Nissan Patrol and narrowly confirmed the overall title. Mohammed Al-Asiri hit trouble on the final morning and slipped to second in the Stock class.

Abdulaziz Al-Yaeesh finished 13th overall and sealed the Saudi title in the Ultimate category.

The Japanese trio of Teruhito Sugawara, Hirokazu Somemiya and Yuji Mochizuki guided their Hino 600 to the finish in a useful pre-Dakar test for the Truck race.

After seeing 15 minutes of time handed back after a GPS issue on Friday evening, the resultant stage win meant that McInnes was handed stage-opening duties for the final day as he tried to defend a five-second lead over Al-Mogheera in the motorcycles.

While McInnes and Al-Mogheera battled it out for the win in the final stage, Philip Horlemann held on to secure a podium finish with third place and Mohammed Al-Balooshi managed to pass Ehab Al-Hakeem to take fourth and the Saudi title.

Al-Balooshi said: “Finally I get to win the Saudi Championship. This is the last round of the last championship of the year. After winning the FIM Bajas World Cup and also the Qatar Off-Road Championship, now I win here in Saudi Arabia. It is like icing on the cake. What a way to finish the season. Now we are looking forward to the Dakar Rally.”

Abdullah Lanjawi, Mohammed Meerza, Ahmed Al-Jaber, Martin Chalmers and Mishaal Al-Ghuneim rounded off the motorcycle top 10 with Salman Humood and Sarah Khuraibet finishing 11th and 12th.

Behind Al-Tuwaijri, Abdulaziz Al-Shayban, Hani Al-Noumesi and Abdulaziz Al-Atawi rounded off the quad finishers on their Yamaha Raptors.

Final stage winner Al-Noumesi said: “This was a very beautiful rally. I had so much fun riding today and I managed to claim P1 in the stage. I believe I finished second in the championship.”

Jeddah Rally Toyota 2024 was organised by the (SAMF) in conjunction with the Ministry of Sport, with official partner Jameel Motorsport and strategic partner Saudi Investment Bank. It was held under the chairmanship of H.R.H. Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal.

Jeddah Rally Toyota 2024 – final positions:

Cars (top 20 only)

  1. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Toyota Hilux 2hr 54min 25sec
  2. Dania Akeel (SAU)/Stéphane Duplé (FRA) Toyota Hilux 3hr 05min 28sec
  3. Yasir Seaidan (SAU)/Michael Metge (FRA) Taurus T3 Max                                       3hr 08min 20sec
  4. Waleed Al-Dhakeel (SAU)/Egor Alexandrovich (ANA) Taurus MC-5 3hr 17min 43sec
  5. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Michal Goleniewski (POL) Ford F-150 3hr 24min 10sec
  6. Saleh Al-Saif (SAU)/Albert Veliamovič (LTU) G Rally Team OT3 3hr 24min 54sec
  7. Annett Quandt (DEU)/Annie Seel (SWE) X-Raid Fenic 3hr 26min 07sec
  8. Hamad Al-Harbi (SAU)/Aleksei Kuzmich (ARE) Can-Am Maverick X3 3hr 30min 19sec
  9. Maria Gameiro (PRT)/José Marques (PRT) X-Raid Fenic 3hr 34min 20sec
  10. Abdullah Al-Shegawi (SAU)/Raid Al-Assaf (SAU) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR 3hr 38min 46sec
  11. Hamza Bakhashab (SAU)/Marcin Pasek (POL) Can-Am Maverick X3 3hr 39min 46sec
  12. Ibrahim Al-Muhanna (SAU)/Faisal Al-Suwayh (SAU) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR 3hr 50min 30sec
  13. Abdulaziz Al-Yaeesh (SAU)/Omar Al-Lahim (SAU) Nissan Patrol 3hr 52min 08sec
  14. Maha Al-Hameli (SAU)/Sébastien Delaunay (FRA) Can-Am Maverick X3 3hr 54min 40sec
  15. Khaled Al-Shammeri (SAU)/Majed Al-Shammeri (SAU) Nissan Patrol 3hr 56min 15sec
  16. Jafar Al-Qahtani (SAU)/Hussam Al-Zahrani (SAU) Nissan Patrol 3hr 56min 51sec
  17. Owaid Al-Shammeri (SAU)/Ayidh Al-Harbi (SAU) Toyota Land Cruiser 4hr 00min 45sec
  18. Orjwan Ammar (SAU)/Khalid Al-Kendi (ARE) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR 4hr 03min 50sec
  19. Mohammed Asiri (SAU)/Sulaiman Al-Oraini (SAU) Nissan Patrol 4hr 19min 35sec
  20. Sufian Al-Omar (SAU)/Mohammed Innab (SAU) Nissan Patrol 4hr 23min 38sec

Truck

1.Teruhito Sugawara/Hirokazu Somemiya/Yuji Mochizuki (JPN) Hino 600                     4hr 00min 18sec

Bikes

  1. Alex McInnes (ARE) Husqvarna FE 450 4hr 45min 37sec
  2. Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera (SAU) KTM Rally Bike 4hr 46min 19sec
  3. Philip Horlemann (ARE) KTM 450 Rally Replica 5hr 07min 44sec
  4. Mohammed Al-Balooshi (ARE) KTM Rally Bike 5hr 15min 32sec
  5. Ehab Al-Hakeem (SAU) Yamaha WR 450F 5hr 18min 15sec
  6. Abdullah Lanjawi (ARE) Kove 450 Rally 5hr 40min 26sec
  7. Mohammed Meerza (ARE) Husqvarna FE 501 5hr 51min 50sec
  8. Ahmed Al-Jaber (SAU) KTM Rally Bike 5hr 55min 53sec
  9. Martin Chalmers (QAT) GasGas 450 RFR 6hr 05min 12sec
  10. Mishal Al-Ghuneim (SAU) Husqvarna 450 Rally Replica 6hr 40min 24sec

11 Salman Humood (BHR) KTM 450 Rally Replica                                                                              7hr 39min 06sec

  1. Sarah Khuraibet (KWT) Husqvarna FE 450 19hr 44min 03sec

Quads

  1. Haitham Al-Tuwaijri (SAU) Yamaha Raptor 700 5hr 11min 30sec
  2. Abdulaziz Al-Shayban (SAU) Yamaha Raptor 700 5hr 11min 42sec
  3. Hani Al-Noumesi (SAU) Yamaha Raptor 700 5hr 33min 11sec
  4. Abdulaziz Al-Atawi (SAU) Yamaha Raptor 700 5hr 36min 07sec

End

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

 

 

 

Published On: 21 December 2024