Qassim Rally Toyota gets underway with a ceremonial start and Prologue stage in Buraydah on Thursday afternoon.

The third round of the 2024 Saudi Toyota Championship is being organised by the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF) and has attracted an unofficial field of 38 cars,  18 motorcycles and six quads.

The event is being held in conjunction with the Ministry of Sport and in partnership with Jameel Motorsports as an official partner and Saudi Investment Bank as a strategic partner. The organising team is headed by SAMF President H.R.H. Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal.

Defending champion Yazeed Al-Rajhi and his German navigator Timo Gottschalk are aiming to win the Saudi Toyota Championship yet again. Al-Rajhi leads the overall Drivers’ Championship by 21 points from Challenger rival Saleh Al-Saif and Overdrive Racing team-mate Dania Akeel, with Abdulaziz Al-Yaeesh and Moaaz Hariri well-placed to challenge with a good result this weekend.

Al-Rajhi leads the Ultimate P category, Al-Yaeesh tops the Ultimate list from Faris Al-Moshna, while both Al-Saif and Hariri have commanding leads in their respective Challenger and SSV classes. Muneef Al-Shammeri leads Jafar Al-Qahtani by 16 points in the Stock section for series production cross-country machines.

Top seed Mohammed Al-Balooshi heads the motorcycle standings by 14 points from Saudi rival Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera. Kuwait’s Abdullah Al-Shatti, Hamdan Al-Ali and Ahmed Al-Jaber are the closest challengers.

Haitham Al-Tuwaijri currently has a 10-point advantage over Hani Al-Noumesi in the tussle for the quad championship with Abdulaziz Al-Shayban and Abdulaziz Al-Atawi needing a top finish in Buraydah to take the battle to the final round in Jeddah in December.

The event ran for the first time back in 2019 when Yazeed Al-Rajhi claimed victory in the car category in his customary Toyota. Khalil Al-Tuwaijri won the now defunct NUTV class and Mohammed Al-Balooshi, Abdulmajeed Al-Khulaifi and Ibrahim Al-Muhanna were triumphant in the motorcycle, quad and truck categories.