The Saudi trio of Yazeed Al-Rajhi, Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera and Abdulaziz Al-Shayban set the quickest times in the car, motorcycle and quad categories on the seven-kilometre Prologue stage at the start of the Tabuk Toyota Rally 2024 on Thursday afternoon.
The second round of the Saudi Toyota Championship organised by the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF) attracted a final starting list of 47 machines (29 cars, 12 motorcycles and six quads).
They were flagged away from the ceremonial start at King Khalid City in Tabuk by H.R.H. Prince Khaled bin Saud bin Abdullah Al-Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Deputy Governor of the Tabuk province, and SAMF President H.R.H. Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal.
The bikes and cars began the stage in reverse order and Saudi quad rider Mohammed Al-Name opened proceedings in front of an excitable crowd at the helm of his Honda TRX 700XX quad.
Championship leader Yazeed Al-Rajhi and his German co-driver Timo Gottshalk guided their Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux to the fastest time of 5min 50sec in the overall car category and the Ultimate P section.
That was comfortably quicker than the time set by their second-placed team-mates Dania Akeel and Stéphane Duplé in a dominant Toyota 1-2.
Moaaz Hariri teamed up with Kirill Shubin to deliver a potent stage performance in his Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR. A time of 6min 26sec catapulted the Saudi into third on the stage and atop the SSV standings. Abdullah Al-Shegawi was his closest SSV rival.
Saudi Can-Am Maverick driver Hamad Al-Harbi came home in fourth and headed the Challenger category from Dark Horse OT3 driver and series leader Saleh Al-Saif. Maha Al-Hameli was third quickest in the category.
Abdulaziz Al-Yaeesh was the fastest of the Nissan drivers in the Ultimate class in 10th place but rivals Ahmed Al-Shammeri and Faris Al-Moshna lost a lot of time with technical issues and plummeted to the rear of the rankings.
Mohammed Al-Asiri set the fastest time in the Stock category for series-production cross-country vehicles.
MX Ride Dubai’s Mohammed Al-Balooshi finished behind leading Saudi rider Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera in the unofficial bike results on his Husqvarna Rally. Saudi’s Ahmed Al-Jaber tied with Kuwaiti Abdullah Al-Shatti for third place. Emirati Kove rider Ibrahim Bugla suffered delays in the stage, lost over six minutes and slipped to the rear of the motorcycle standings.
Abdulaziz Al-Shayban showed a useful turn of sped in Spain recently and the Yamaha rider topped the quad standings in the Prologue with a time of 7min 51sec to beat Hani Al-Noumesi and Abdulaziz Al-Atawi. Abdulrahman Al-Abdullatif failed to finish the stage.
Tomorrow (Friday), competitors tackle a 245km selective section that starts in the Zaita desert on the Hisma Plateau, near Tabuk, and finishes 95km from the service park. The first bike is due on stage at 08.15hrs and the leading car at 09.40hrs.
2024 Tabuk Toyota Rally – Prologue result (unofficial):
Cars (top 18 only)
1. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Toyota Hilux, 5min 50sec
2. Dania Akeel (SAU)/Stéphane Duplé (FRA) Toyota Hilux, 6min 19sec
3. Moaaz Hariri (SAU)/Kirill Shubin (FIA) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo 6min 26sec
4. Hamad Al-Harbi (SAU)/Aleksei Kuzmich (ARE) Can-Am Maverick X3, 6min 46sec
5. Saleh Al-Saif (SAU)/Nasser Al-Kuwari (QAT) OT3, 6min 54sec
6. Abdullah Al-Shegawi (SAU)/Raed Al-Asaf (SAU) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo, 7min 04sec
7. Maha Al-Hameli (SAU)/Oriol Vidal (ESP) Can-Am Maverick X3, 7min 08sec
8. Hamza Bakhashab (SAU)/Marcin Ludwik (POL) Can-Am Maverick X3, 7min 12sec
9. Waleed Al-Dhakeel (SAU)/Egor Okhotnikov (FIA) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo 7min 16sec
10. Abdulaziz Al-Yaeesh (SAU)/Omar Al-Lahim (SAU) Nissan Patrol, 7min 28sec
11. Esraa Al-Dkheil (SAU)/Aleksandr Alekseev (KGZ) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo, 7min 51sec
12. Al-Mashna Al-Ramali (SAU)/Abdullah Al-Ramali (SAU) Nissan Patrol, 8min 07sec
13. Mohammed Asiri (SAU)/Sulaiman Al-Oraini (SAU) Nissan Patrol, 8min 08sec
14. Orjwan Ammar (SAU)/Khalid Al-Kendi (ARE) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo, 8min 12sec
15. Khaled Al-Shammeri (SAU)/Majed Al-Shammeri (SAU) Nissan Patrol, 8min 15sec
16. Mubarak Al-Zbaidy (SAU)/Hassan Ali Obaid (ARE) Nissan Pick-Up, 8min 22sec
17. Abdullah Al-Haydan (SAU)/Bader Al-Ajmi (KWT) Can-Am Maverick X3, 8min 31sec
18. Annett Quandt (DEU)/Annie Seel (SWE) Can-Am Maverick X3, 8min 31sec
Bikes
1. Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera (SAU) KTM 450, 7min 03sec
2. Mohammed Al-Balooshi (ARE) Husqvarna Rally Bike, 7min 40sec
3. Ahmed Al-Jaber (SAU) KTM 450, 8min 29sec
4. Abdullah Al-Shatti (KWT) Husqvarna Rally Bike, 8min 29sec
5. Philip Horlemann (ARE) Husqvarna FE501, 8min 32sec
6. Hamdan Al-Ali (SAU) Honda CRF 450 RX, 8min 39sec
7. Hanno Geyser (ZAF) Beta, 8min 48sec
8. Eid Rafic (LEB) Husqvarna EXCF, 9min 07sec
9. Mishal Al-Ghuneim (SAU) Husqvarna 450 Rally, 9min 32sec
10. Jason Joslin (KWT) Husqvarna 350 FE, 10min 32sec
11. Bader Al-Hamdan (SAU) Yamaha WR450 F, 10min 47sec
11. Ibrahim Bugla (ARE) Kove 450 Rally, 16min 06sec
Quads
1. Abdulaziz Al-Shayban (SAU) Yamaha Raptor 700, 7min 51sec
2. Hani Al-Noumesi (SAU) Yamaha Raptor 700, 8min 21sec
3. Abdulaziz Al-Atawi (SAU) Yamaha Raptor 700, 8min 25sec
4. Haitham Al-Tuwaijri (SAU) Yamaha Raptor 700, 10min 23sec
5. Mohammed Al-Name (SAU) Honda TRX 700XX, 11min 29sec
6. Abdulrahman Al-Abdullatif (SAU) Can-Am Renegade 800, DNF
Neil Perkins,