JEDDAH BAJA TOYOTA RALLY 2026

Saudi Toyota Rally Championship, round 2 – November 11th-14th, 2026

For immediate release  

Thursday, November 12th, 2026

PROLOGUE SUCCESS FOR AL-RAJHI, AL-BALOOSHI AND AL-TUWAIJRI AT THE JEDDAH BAJA TOYOTA RALLY

  • Entrants flagged away from start at Jeddah Corniche Circuit

JEDDAH (SAUDI ARABIA): Yazeed Al-Rajhi, Mohammed Al-Balooshi and Haitham Al-Tuwaijri topped the times in the car, motorcycle and quad categories on the opening 13km Prologue at the Jeddah Baja Toyota Rally on Thursday.

The second round of the 2026 Saudi Toyota Rally Championship attracted a starting list of 17 cars, six motorcycles and four quads with entrants flagged away from the ceremonial start at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit (JCC) later in the afternoon.

The Baja is running under the supervision of SAMF Chairman H.R.H. Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal. It is being organised by the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF) in conjunction with the Ministry of Sport and official partner Jameel Motorsport. Additional support comes from Toyota, Lexonz and Brandship.

Dennis Zenz stepped in again to replace Timo Gottschalk as the navigator alongside Al-Rajhi. Gottschalk is still recovering from an accident he sustained back in the summer.

The duo stopped the clocks in 8min 26.0sec in their Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux GR and that was 22.2 seconds quicker than the time achieved by Qatari rival Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and his navigator Max Delfino in a two-wheel drive Optimus MD.

Al-Rajhi said: “Today was a difficult Prologue. It was not an easy start, 13km of very technical tracks in the mountains. It was slippery but Dennis and I did a great job. I hope to continue like that and see what happens tomorrow.”

Saleh Al-Saif topped the Challenger standings and clocked the third quickest time with Albert Veliamovič in a G Rally Team OT3. The Saudi finished just 5.4 seconds ahead of the Taurus T3 Max crew of Dania Akeel and her regular French navigator Sébastien Delaunay. Ahmed Al-Shammeri and Abdulaziz Al-Manea rounded off the top five in a Nissan Patrol.

Maha Al-Hamali teamed up with Aleksei Kuzmich to lead the SSV standings in ninth, while early bragging rights in the Stock class went to Mohammed Al-Asiri and Hussan Al-Zahrani.

Emirati Mohammed Al-Balooshi mastered the Prologue better than his rivals to eke out a 1min 43.9sec advantage over his brother Sultan in the motorcycle rankings. The two MX Ride Dubai bikers were the class of the field with Dominic Wells coming home in third on a Yamaha.

The Saudi trio of Ahmed Olfat, Ibrahim Al-Jaralla and Abdullah Al-Jahdali rounded off the six. Abdulhaim Al-Mogheera was unable to start because of a date clash with the final round of the FIM Bajas World Cup in Portugal.

Haitham Al-Tuwaijri delivered a dominant display on his Yamaha Raptor 700 to top the times in the quad category. The Saudi beat CF Moto C Force 1000 rider Badr Al-Hamdan by 46.5sec to lead the way. Abdulrahman Alabdullatif and Yassin Mahmoud Al-Hamad were third and fourth.

Tomorrow, (Friday), competitors will tackle two desert selective sections of 74.50km and 85.53km with the result of the Prologue determining starting positions.

Jeddah Baja Toyota Rally 2026 – Prologue result:

Cars

  1. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (KSA)/Dennis Zenz (GER) Toyota Hilux GR 8min 26.0sec
  2. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Max Delfino (FRA) Optimus MD Rallye 8min 48.2sec
  3. Saleh Al-Saif (KSA)/Albert Veliamovič (LTU) G Rally Team OT3 9min 51.7sec
  4. Dania Akeel (KSA)/Sébastien Delaunay (FRA) Taurus T3 Max 9min 57.1sec
  5. Ahmed Al-Shammeri (KSA)/Abdulaziz Al-Manea (KSA) Nissan Patrol 11min 25.7sec
  6. Khalaf Joan Al-Shammeri (KSA)/Mashal Saleh Al-Shammeri (KSA) Nissan Patrol 11min 33.1sec
  7. Ayyadah Al-Shammeri (KSA)/Abdulrahman Al-Shammeri (KSA) Nissan Patrol 11min 39.8sec
  8. Mohammed Al-Asiri (KSA)/Hussan Al-Zahrani (KSA) Nissan Patrol 11min 53.3sec
  9. Maha Al-Hamali (KSA)/Aleksei Kuzmich (UAE) Can-Am Maverick R 12min 02.8sec
  10. Thamer Radhi Al-Shammeri (KSA)/Sami Al-Shammeri (KSA) Nissan Patrol 12min 06.2sec
  11. Meshaal Al-Howaish (KSA)/Taye Perry (GER) Can-Am Maverick X3 12min 30.7sec
  12. Salem Al-Quraini (KSA)/Suleiman Al-Oraini (KSA) Nissan Patrol 13min 18.8sec
  13. Faris Khalaf Al-Moshna (KSA)/Saud Al-Tamimi (KSA) Nissan Patrol                    13min 51.1sec
  14. Abdullah Al-Zahrani (KSA)/Faisal Fatih (KSA) Can-Am Maverick X3                    14min 29.2sec

Hussein Al-Lapid (KSA)/Saeed Al-Ghamdi (KSA) Nissan Patrol                                                           DNF

Hamad Al-Harbi (KSA)/Faisal Al-Suwayh (KSA) Can-Am Maverick R                                                         DNS

Abdulaziz Al-Yaeesh (KSA)/Omar Al-Lahim (KSA) Isuzu D-Max                                                           DNS

Bikes

  1. Mohammed Al-Balooshi (UAE) Husqvarna 350 10min 20.2sec
  2. Sultan Al-Balooshi (UAE) Kove 450 12min 04.1sec
  3. Dominic Wells (KSA) Yamaha WR450 F 12min 50.0sec
  4. Ahmed Olfat (KSA) KTM EXC 450 F 13min 11.5sec
  5. Ibrahim Al-Jaralla (KSA) Kove 450 Rally EX 13min 25.5sec
  6. Abdullah Al-Jahdali (KSA) Yamaha WR450 F 14min 46.3sec

Quads

  1. Haitham Al-Tuwaijri (KSA) Yamaha Raptor 700                    10min 54.5sec
  2. Badr Al-Hamdan (KSA) CF Moto C Force 1000 11min 41.0sec
  3. Abdulrahman Alabdullatif (KSA) CF Moto C Force 1000 14min 04.3sec
  4. Yassin Mahmoud Al-Hamad (KSA) CF Moto C Force 1000 16min 26.7sec

Ends

Follow the results live

2026 Jeddah Baja – Auto – Live Results

SPORTITY APP – Code JEDDAH26AUTO and JEDDAH26MOTO

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

 

 

 

Published On: 12 November 2026