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 Saudi Investment Back as a strategic partner, has announced that the Qassim Rally Toyota will be the third round of the Saudi Toyota Championship on October 23rd-26th.
Headed by H.R.H. Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal, its President and Chairman of the Organising Committee, the SAMF will run a three-day off-road event through the open deserts around Buraydah with approximately 367 competitive kilometres in a route of 611km.
For the second year, Qassim Rally Toyota will be based out of the Mövenpick Qassim in Buraydah and gets underway with a ceremonial start in the nearby National Park from 14.00hrs on Thursday, October 24th.
Competitors in the various motorcycle, quad and car classes will then tackle a Prologue stage of approximately nine kilometres in length from 15.00hrs onwards. The Prologue will not count towards the general classification.
The first of two stages through the desert will then take centre stage on Friday, October 25th and run for approximately 238km to the east of Buraydah with the final stage of around 120km bringing the competitive action to a conclusion on Saturday morning (October 26th) to the northeast. The prize giving ceremony will then take place in the National Park from 16.00hrs onwards.
The 2024 Saudi Toyota Rally Championship again consists of four rounds. The Hail Toyota International Rally took place at the start of February and was also a round of the FIA World Baja Cup and the FIM Bajas World Cup, while the Tabuk Toyota Rally was round two of the local championship in early May.
Rally Qassim ran for the first time in 2019 but there were no events in 2020 and 2021. The event then returned to the Saudi Toyota Championship calendar in 2022.
Last year, Yazeed Al-Rajhi secured his third victory in the car category with a third different co-driver on his way to retaining the Saudi Toyota Rally Championship title on four wheels. Abdullah Al-Sanad prevailed in the T2 category for series production cross-country machines and Saleh Al-Saif and Maha Al-Hameli won the T3 and T4 classes in their Can-Ams.
Emirati Mohammed Al-Balooshi won the motorcycle section for a second time and Haitham Al-Tuwaijri guided his Yamaha quad to a first success in Buraydah.
Nail Perkins,