RALLY QASSIM TOYOTA 2023    

Saudi Toyota Championship, round 3 – November 23rd-25th, 2023

For immediate release

Thursday, November 23rd, 2023

 

AL-RAJHI EDGES AHEAD OF MORAES AFTER PROLOGUE STAGE OF RALLY QASSIM TOYOTA 2023

  • Mohammed Al-Balooshi and Haitham Al-Tuwaijri fastest in bike and quad classes

BURAYDAH (SAUDI ARABIA): Yazeed Al-Rajhi, Mohammed Al-Balooshi and Haitham Al-Tuwaijri claimed the early bragging rights with the fastest times in the car, motorcycle and quad categories on the opening 3.51km Prologue stage of Rally Qassim Toyota 2023 on Thursday afternoon.

Thirty-one cars, one truck, 12 motorcycles and six quads had earlier been flagged away from the ceremonial start at the Al-Qassim National Park-Osseilan in Buraydah by SAMF President H.R.H. Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal and H.R.H. Prince Dr. Faisal bin Misha’al bin Saud bin Abdulaziz, Governor of Al-Qassim Province.

The third round of the Saudi Toyota Championship is being organised by the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF), in conjunction with the Ministry of Sport, and in alliance with Abdul Latif Jameel (ALJ) Motors Toyota as the official partner and strategic partner Saudi Investment Bank (SAIB).

Partnered by Timo Gottschalk and driving a Toyota Hilux prepared by Overdrive Racing, Al-Rajhi began the defence of his Saudi Toyota Championship title with victory on the Prologue stage in a time of 1min 53sec. That put the Riyadh driver seven seconds ahead of Toyota Gazoo Racing’s new official driver Lucas Moraes and the Brazilian’s Spanish co-driver Armand Monleón and Yazeed Racing’s Saleh Alabdulali and his co-driver Mohammed Al-Naim in a third Toyota.

Moraes said: “This is the last rally for me before Dakar. I’m looking forward to it. Full attack from the start….”

Dark Horse Team Can-Am Maverick X3 driver Saleh Al-Saif was the quickest of the T3 entrants in the class for lightweight prototype machines and held fourth overall. He beat Yasir Seaidan by one second, while 11th-placed Ahmed Al-Shegawi was quickest of the five runners in the T4 category in his Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR.

Ibrahim Al-Muhanna teamed up with Faisal Al-Suwayh and Raed Abu Theeb to tackle the event in the only T5 Mercedes truck.

Recently-crowned FIM Bajas World Cup champion Mohammed Al-Balooshi snatched the advantage in the motorcycle category on his KTM. The Emirati clocked a time of 2min 18sec to beat Anas Al-Rahyani by two seconds. Qatar-based Martin Chalmers finished third.

FIA Bajas World Cup regular Haitham Al-Tuwaijri rode his customary Yamaha strongly to beat Qatar-based Emiel Stuckens by 15 seconds in the quad category.

Friday’s action is centred around the Ash Shimasiyah desert stage of 186km with the first motorcycle on track at 09.05hrs and the first car following at 10.35hrs.

Rally Qassim Toyota 2023 – Prologue result (unofficial @ 17.55hrs):

Cars

  1. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Toyota Hilux (T1P)                    1min 53sec
  2. Lucas Moraes (BRA)/Armand Monleón (ESP) Toyota Hilux (T1P) 2min 00sec
  3. Saleh Al-Alabdulali (SAU)/Mohammed Al-Naim (SAU) Toyota Hilux 2min 00sec
  4. Saleh Al-Saif (SAU)/Egor Okhotnikov (FIA) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T3) 2min 13sec
  5. Yasir Seaidan (SAU)/Michael Metge (FRA) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T3) 2min 14sec
  6. Rashid Al-Ketbi (ARE)/Ali Mirza (ARE) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T3) 2min 17sec
  7. Dania Akeel (SAU)/Stéphane Duplé (FRA) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T3) 2min 20sec
  8. Al-Mashna Al-Ramali (SAU)/Mazen Al-Shammeri (SAU) Nissan 2min 20sec
  9. Sufian Al-Omer (SAU)/Waleed Al-Shegawi (SAU) Nissan (T2) 2min 22sec
  10. Metab Saud Al-Qnon (SAU)/Murdhi Al-Shammeri (SAU) Nissan 2min 22sec
  11. Abdullah Al-Shegawi (SAU)/Faisal Ftyh (SAU) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo (T4) 2min 24sec
  12. Khalid Al-Feraihi (SAU)/Sébastien Delaunay (FRA) Nissan 2min 25sec
  13. Faris Al-Moshna (SAU)/Khalid Al-Bakr (SAU) Nissan 2min 26sec
  14. Ahmed Al-Shammeri (SAU)/Hani Al-Shammeri (SAU) Nissan 2min 26sec
  15. Hamad Al-Harbi (SAU)/Aleksandr Alekseev (FIA) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T3) 2min 26sec
  16. Abdullah Al-Haydan (SAU)/Bader Al-Ajmi (KWT) Nissan 2min 30sec
  17. Abdullah Al-Sanad (SAU)/Abdullatif Al-Sanad (SAU) Nissan (T2) 2min 30sec
  18. Abdulaziz Al-Yaeesh (SAU)/Omar Al-Lahim (SAU) Nissan 2min 32sec, etc

T1 unless stated

Bikes

  1. Mohammed Al-Balooshi (ARE) KTM 450 2min 18sec
  2. Anass Al-Rahyani (SAU) KTM 2min 20sec
  3. Martin Chalmers (QAT) Beta 430RR 2min 21sec
  4. Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera (SAU) KTM 2min 26sec
  5. Marwan Al-Rahmani (ARE) KTM 2min 26sec
  6. Bader Al-Hamdan (SAU) Yamaha WR450 F                    2min 27sec
  7. Ehab Al-Hakeem (SAU) Yamaha WR450 F 2min 27sec
  8. Hamdan Al-Ali (ARE) Husqvarna 2min 32sec
  9. Ibrahim Bugla (ARE) Husqvarna 2min 36sec
  10. Bader Al-Bader (SAU) KTM 2min 37sec
  11. Philip Horlemann (ARE) Husqvarna                    2min 46sec
  12. Gerard Lubbinge (QAT) KTM 2min 53sec

Quads

  1. Haitham Al-Tuwaijri (SAU) Yamaha                    2min 25sec
  2. Emiel Stuckens (QAT) Yamaha 2min 40sec
  3. Hani Al-Noumesi (SAU) Yamaha 2min 45sec
  4. Abdulaziz Al-Atawi (SAU) Yamaha                    2min 45sec
  5. Abdulrahman Alabdullatif (SAU) Yamaha TRXX 700 3min 36sec
  6. Maya Tamime (TUN) Honda 5min 41sec

Ends

SPORTITY APP – Code QASSIM23AUTO and QASSIM23MOTO

For further information: Saudi Toyota Championship (samf.gov.sa)

 

 

Published On: 23 November 2023