Overdrive Racing’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi, Dania Akeel and Akira Miura were classified in second, third and fifth overall at the three-day Saudi Baja, round one of the 2026 FIA World Baja Cup.
Al-Rajhi and his German navigator Timo Gottschalk led at the night halt in their Toyota Hilux GR run by Overdrive Racing but opened the road on the shorter final stage and dropped over three minutes to a hard-charging Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah. The Qatari benefitted from the weight advantage of his lighter two-wheel drive car to take the win.
The third quickest time for Yazeed Racing’s Al-Rajhi ensured that he finished second overall and picked up valuable points towards the FIA World Baja Cup. He said: « In the stage, we did the maximum we could. But we had no chance. I think the travel helped him (Nasser) a lot. I hope next time he comes with a four-wheel drive. The problem is the big difference in weight. It’s around half a tonne difference. I opened the road today and maybe hesitated a little. He was full attack. »
Akeel and her French navigator Sébastien Delaunay rounded off the podium places in the second of the Overdrive Toyotas running with backing from Jameel Motorsport. They were also second in the FIA World Baja Cup standings. « I had an amazing time, » said Akeel. « Stage two was very technical, tricky and a lot of navigational challenges. With Ha’il, there are so many spectators, which is fantastic, but it can make it difficult to find the right track, so it really was a bit tricky there. I’ve very happy to finish on the podium on the first round. That is a good start to the season. »
Japan’s Miura and his Spanish navigator Armand Monleón guided the third of the Overdrive-run cars to fifth place and picked up points for fourth in the FIA World Baja Cup.
Action got underway with a 6.25km Prologue on Thursday afternoon that determined the start order for the first of the longer desert stages. Al-Rajhi was the quickest on the Prologue with Akeel and Miura finishing in fifth and 14th and fifth and seventh of the Ultimate cars. Akeel said: « It was a short stage in a fun area. We had a nice pace and the car was a lot of fun to drive. You don’t want to slide too much because you become inefficient. »
The real action began with the opening stage that ran for 242km, started at Al-Jafur, passed through Baqa’a and concluded in Alhano after a transfer and refuelling zone. It was a strong day for Overdrive Racing with Al-Rajhi claiming the stage win and a 2min 24sec overall lead, Akeel finishing third and Miura settling into sixth place. Al-Rajhi’s navigator Gottschalk said: « It was a nice stage. It’s always nice in this area. We started fourth car on the road. It was a good fight. We had lost a little time to Saood (Variawa) at the neutralisation but, after that, he was going slow and we overtook him. »
Akeel added: « It’s a good situation for us, third. It was a good stage with challenging terrain. We had a good time. I had a problem with the ligament in my hand on stage two of Dakar. I managed to drive the remaining stages and I had a minor surgery last week to fix the ligament back into place with a couple of screws. I was lucky that it was the hand we use for gear shifting. My good hand is on the steering wheel. No issues. It’s an important race for us. »
Opening the road was far from ideal for Al-Rajhi on the final 151km stage but he managed to finish with the third quickest time to take second place. Akeel and Miura came home in fourth and eighth to finish third and sixth.
The 2026 FIA World and Middle East Baja Cups continue with the Jordan Baja on February 12th-14th.
2026 Saudi Baja – result (unofficial):
1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Max Delfino (FRA) Optimus MD Rallye, 4hr 06min 23sec+
2. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (KSA)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Toyota Hilux GR, 4hr 07min 05sec*
3. Dania Akeel (KSA)/Sébastian Delaunay (FRA) Toyota Hilux Evo, 4hr 20min 47sec*
4. Francisco Barreto (POR)/Paulo Fiuza (POR) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo, 4hr 23min 08sec*
5. Akira Miura (JPN)/Armand Monleón (ESP) Toyota Hilux GR, 4hr 30min 53sec*
6. Yasir Seaidan (KSA)/Xavier Flick (FRA) Taurus Evo Max, 4hr 31min 04sec+
7. Saood Variawa (RSA)/François Cazalet (FRA) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo, 4hr 33min 25sec*
8. Hamed Al-Wahaibi (OMA)/Maciej Giemza (POL) Can-Am Maverick R, 4hr 36min 42sec*
9. Fernando Alvarez (ARG)/Xavier Panseri (FRA) Can-Am Maverick R, 4hr 36min 53sec*
10. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Marcin Pasek (POL) Taurus T3 Max, 4hr 39min 05sec*
*denotes registered for FIA World Cup
+ denotes registered for FIA Middle East Cup