AL-RAJHI, AL-MOGHEERA AND AL-SHAYBAN FASTEST ON PROLOGUE STAGE AT TABUK TOYOTA RALLY


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.


Yazeed Al-Rajhi at the start of the 2024 Tabuk Toyota Rally.

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