JEDDAH RALLY TOYOTA 2024   

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

For immediate release  

Wednesday, December 18th, 2024

JEDDAH RALLY TOYOTA STARTS AT JEDDAH CORNICHE CIRCUIT ON THURSDAY AFTERNOON

  • Al-Rajhi and Akeel to go head-to-head for overall Saudi Toyota Championship title
  • Emirati Mohammed Al-Balooshi aims for clean sweep of motorcycle victories

JEDDAH (SAUDI ARABIA): Jeddah Rally Toyota will draw the curtain on a highly-competitive and increasingly-popular Saudi Toyota Rally Championship this weekend.

The three-day round of the all-terrain series is based at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit (JCC) and has attracted a field of 38 cars, 16 motorcycles and six quads. Action gets underway with a Prologue stage of 11km from 15.00hrs on Thursday afternoon.

Yazeed Al-Rajhi leads his Overdrive Racing team-mate Dania Akeel by 21 points in the Ultimate P category and has a 28-point cushion over the recent winner of the FIA Middle East Baja Cup in the overall championship standings. The duo will go head-to-head to decide both titles in their Toyota Hiluxes. Their respective navigators, Timo Gottschalk and Stéphane Duplé, are also separated by 28 points in the Co-drivers’ Championship.

The battle for third place in the points’ standings is still wide open: Saleh Al-Saif heads into the weekend with a 24-point lead over Hamad Al-Harbi with Moaaz Hariri, Abdulaziz Al-Yaeesh and Miroslav Zapletal within striking distance of finishing fourth.

Al-Yaeesh will also be aiming to seal victory in the Ultimate category at the wheel of his Nissan Patrol. He leads fellow Nissan driver Fares Al-Moshna by seven points with Khalid Al-Shammeri starting as the favourite to finish the season in third in class.

Al-Harbi (Can-Am) and Al-Saif (OT3) are great rivals in other FIA championships and they head into the weekend’s Jeddah showdown separated by just two points in the quest to win the prestigious Challenger category.

Maha Al-Hameli and German rival Annett Quandt are closely matched in the battle for the final place on the Challenger podium, with Hamza Bakhashab knowing that if he delivers a top performance through the deserts to the north of Jeddah he will also move into podium contention.

Four Nissan Patrol drivers are still within a shout of securing the Stock title for series-production cross-country machines. Majed Al-Thunayyan is the new FIA Middle East Baja Cup’s Stock champion and will take the start with a two-point cushion over Sufian Al-Omar and a three-point advantage over Saudi Border Guard driver Jafar Al-Qahtani. Fourth-placed Muneef Al-Shammeri is 14 points off the outright class lead.

Moaaz Hariri has already won the Can-Am-dominated SSV category in his Maverick XRS Turbo RR. The Saudi starts the event with a 42-point lead over Abdullah Al-Shegawi, who will go up against R-X Sport’s Orjwan Ammar and Abdullah Al-Haydan in the battle for second and third place.

Three-time FIM Bajas World Cup winner Mohammed Al-Balooshi has won the motorcycle category in all three rounds of this year’s Saudi Toyota Championship and starts as the clear favourite to continue his remarkable recent run of form.

Main competition for the Emirati comes from the host nation’s Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera, Ahmed Al-Jaber and Mishal Al-Ghuneim, Lebanon’s Rafic Eid, Doha-based Australian Martin Chalmers and UAE-based Briton Alex McInnes.

Haitham Al-Tuwaijri won the quad category in Jeddah Rally Toyota for the last two seasons and will be aiming for a hat-trick when he takes on title rivals Hani Al-Noumesi, Abdulaziz Al-Shayban and Abdulaziz Al-Atawi. Al-Shayban emerged victorious at the last round in Qassim, while Al-Tuwaijri was triumphant in Tabuk back in May and in Ha’il at the start of the season.

Jeddah Rally Toyota 2024 is being organised by the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF) in conjunction with the Ministry of Sport, with official partner Jameel Motorsport and strategic partner Saudi Investment Bank. It is running under the supervision of SAMF Chairman H.R.H. Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal.

Tomorrow, (Thursday), the ceremonial start will take place in the JCC F1 Circuit Parking area from 13.00hrs, before competitors tackle a nearby Prologue from 15.00hrs. This will determine the starting order for the following day’s opening desert stage.

Jeddah Rally Toyota 2024 – leading entries:

Ultimate P

  1. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Toyota Hilux
  2. Dania Akeel (SAU)/Stéphane Duplé (FRA) Toyota Hilux
  3. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Michal Goleniewski (POL) Ford F-150

Ultimate

  1. Abdulaziz Al-Yaeesh (SAU)/Omar Al-Lahim (SAU) Nissan Patrol
  2. Faris Al-Moshna (SAU)/Saud Al-Tamimi (SAU) Nissan Patrol
  3. Khaled Al-Shammeri (SAU)/Majed Al-Shammeri (SAU) Nissan Patrol
  4. Owaid Al-Shammeri (SAU)/Ayidh Al-Harbi (SAU) Toyota Land Cruiser
  5. Fahad Al-Marmass (SAU)/Fayed Al-Samry (SAU) Nissan Patrol, etc

Challenger

  1. Hamad Al-Harbi (SAU)/Aleksei Kuzmich (ARE) Can-Am Maverick X3
  2. Saleh Al-Saif (SAU)/Albert Veliamovič (LTU) G Rally Team OT3
  3. Maha Al-Hameli (SAU)/TBA                                       Can-Am Maverick X3
  4. Annett Quandt (DEU)/Annie Seel (SWE) X-Raid Yamaha YXZ 1000R
  5. Hamza Bakhashab (SAU)/Marcin Pasek (POL) Can-Am Maverick X3
  6. Waleed Al-Dhakeel (SAU)/Egor Alexandrovich (ANA) MC5
  7. Yasir Seaidan (SAU)/Michael Metge (FRA) Taurus T3 Max
  8. Rui Carneiro (PRT)/Ole Floene (NOR) Can-Am Maverick X3
  9. Maria Gameiro (PRT)/José Marques (PRT) X-Raid Yamaha YXZ 1000R

SSV

  1. Moaaz Hariri (SAU)/TBA Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
  2. Abdullah Al-Shegawi (SAU)/Raid Al-Assaf (SAU) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
  3. Orjwan Ammar (SAU)/Khalid Al-Kendi (ARE) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
  4. Abdullah Al-Haydan (SAU)/Bader Al-Ajmi (SAU) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
  5. Ibrahim Al-Muhanna (SAU)/Faisal Al-Suwayh (SAU) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
  6. Mona Kurdi (SAU)/Ali Hassan Abdullah (ARE) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR
  7. Ahmed Al-Sabban (SAU)/Ali Mirza (ARE) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR

Stock

  1. Majed Al-Thunayyan (SAU)/Fahad Al-Sufyani (SAU) Nissan Patrol
  2. Sufian Al-Omar (SAU)/Yasir Al-Khuraif (SAU)                    Nissan Patrol
  3. Jafar Al-Qahtani (SAU)/Hussam Al-Zahrani (SAU) Nissan Patrol
  4. Muneef Al-Shammeri (SAU)/Joaan Al-Shammeri (SAU) Nissan Patrol, etc

Bikes

  1. Mohammed Al-Balooshi (ARE) KTM Rally Bike
  2. Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera (SAU) KTM Rally Bike
  3. Ahmed Al-Jaber (SAU) KTM Rally Bike
  4. Hanno Geyser (ZAF) Beta 430 RR
  5. Mishal Al-Ghuneim (SAU) Husqvarna 450 Rally Replica
  6. Rafic Eid (LBN) GasGas 450 Rally Replica
  7. Ehab Al-Hakeem (SAU) Yamaha WR 450F
  8. Martin Chalmers (QAT) GasGas 450 RFR
  9. Abdulrahman Al-Sheeb (QAT) Fantic Enduro
  10. Sarah Khuraibet (KWT) Husqvarna FE 450
  11. Salman Humood (BHR) KTM 450 Rally Replica
  12. Philip Horlemann (ARE) KTM 450 Rally Replica
  13. Abdullah Lanjawi (ARE) Kove 450 Rally
  14. Luca Passone (SAU) Husqvarna 450 Rally Replica
  15. Alex McInnes (ARE) Husqvarna FE 450
  16. Mohammed Meerza (ARE) Husqvarna FE 501

Quads

  1. Haitham Al-Tuwaijri (SAU) Yamaha Raptor 700
  2. Abdulaziz Al-Shayban (SAU) Yamaha Raptor 700
  3. Hani Al-Noumesi (SAU) Yamaha Raptor 700
  4. Abdulaziz Al-Atawi (SAU) Yamaha Raptor 700
  5. Abdulrahman Alabdullatif (SAU) CF Moto C Force 1000
  6. Osama Al-Sehaibani (SAU) Suzuki Raptor

Ends

SPORTITY APP – Code JEDDAH24AUTO and JEDDAH24MOTO

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

 

 

 

Published On: 18 December 2024