- Abdulhaleem Al-Mogheera and Haitham Al-Tuwaijri won the bike and quad stages
- T2, T3, T4, and T5 stage wins for Al-Omer, Al-Saif, Seaidan, and Sugawara
JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA: Yazeed Al-Rajhi, driving his new Overdrive Toyota Hilux, won the opening desert stage of Jeddah Rally Toyota 2023, extending his lead in the Saudi Toyota Rally Championship. The stage started in Rabigh and provided a varied challenge to the drivers and riders, drawing the curtain on another season of international cross-country rallying.
Strong winds and shifting sand delayed the start of the second section of the day’s stage. Competitors started as usual in the morning, but safety and medical helicopters were unable to fly on safety grounds, and the second part was delayed until weather conditions improved.
Al-Rajhi won the day’s competitive stage by 14min 27sec and extended his advantage to 14min 38sec. “All is good,” said Al-Rajhi. “We took a longer time because of safety, but everything was going well. Me and Timo did a good job. The new car has some evolutions, but it is working well for us. This is a good test, but it is also important to win this race.“
Al-Rajhi’s closest title rival Saleh Al-Saif kept up the pressure on the Toyota driver with the second quickest time and moved up to a similar position in the overall standings. He also headed the T3 section for lightweight prototype vehicles in his G Rally Team OT3.
Race World’s Yasir Seaidan guided his Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR to third overall and continued to lead the lightweight production T4 category. Argentina’s 32-year-old Nicolas Cavigliasso won the quad category at the 2019 Dakar Rally before making the switch to racing off-road vehicles. He and co-driver Valentina Pertegarini delivered a superb performance in their Wevers Sport Taurus T3 to finish the stage in fourth and second in T3.
Overnight motorcycle leader Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera won the day’s stage by 1min 55sec to extend his advantage over Mishal Al-Ghuneim to 8min 20sec. Haitham Al-Tuwaijri gained the advantage over championship rival Hani Al-Noumesi in the quad category by winning the stage and building up a lead of 26min 12sec over Abdulaziz Al-Atawi.
The event is being organized by the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF) in conjunction with the Ministry of Sport, official partner Abdul Latif Jameel (ALJ) Motors, and strategic partner Saudi Investment Bank (SAIB). The competitive action concludes on Saturday with a 109km stage, starting at the historic city of Jeddah.
In addition to Al-Rajhi’s win, Abdulhaleem Al-Mogheera and Haitham Al-Tuwaijri won the bike and quad stages, respectively, while T2, T3, T4, and T5 stage wins went to Al-Omer, Al-Saif, Seaidan, and Sugawara. The Jeddah Rally Toyota 2023 is the fourth round of the Saudi Toyota Rally Championship.
Jeddah Rally Toyota 2023 – Positions after SS1 (unofficial):
| Cars | |
| 1. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Toyota Hilux Overdrive (T1P) | 1hr 34min 38sec |
| 2. Saleh Al-Saif (SAU)/Nasser Al-Kuwari (QAT) G Rally Team OT3 (T3) | 1hr 49min 16sec |
| 3. Yasir Seaidan (SAU)/Adrien Metge (FRA) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo (T4) | 1hr 58min 10sec |
| 4. Nicolás Cavigliasso (ARG)/Valentina Pertegarini (ARG) Can-Am Taurus T3 (T3) | 1hr 58min 39sec |
| 5. Dania Akeel (SAU)/Stéphane Duplé (FRA) Can-Am Taurus T3 (T3) | 1hr 59min 04sec |
| 6. Lionel Baud (FRA)/Lucie Baud (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive (T1P) | 2hr 03min 23sec |
| 7. Al-Mashna Al-Ramali (SAU)/Bader Al-Ajmi (SAU) Nissan (T1) | 2hr 06min 35sec |
| 8. Khaled Al-Feraihi (SAU)/Sébastien Delaunay (FRA) Nissan (T1) | 2hr 06min 59sec |
| 9. Hamad Al-Harbi (SAU)/Aleksei Kuzmich (FIA) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T3) | 2hr 09min 10sec |
| 10. Moaz Hariri (SAU)/Kirill Shubin (FIA) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo (T4) | 2hr 14min 48sec |
| 11. Abdullah Al-Shegawi (SAU)/Faisal Al-Ahmari (SAU) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo (T4) | 2hr 19min 37sec |
| 12. Sufian Al-Omer (SAU)/Waleed Al-Shegawi (SAU) Nissan (T2) | 2hr 23min 59sec |
| 13. Maha Al-Hameli (SAU)/Oriol Mena (ESP) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo (T4) | 2hr 25min 26sec |
| 14. Khaled Al-Hamzani (SAU)/Fahad Al-Omar (SAU) Nissan (T2) | 2hr 26min 27sec |
| 15. Jafar Al-Qahtani (SAU)/Hussam Al-Zahrani (SAU) Nissan (T2) | 2hr 29min 18sec |
| 16. Mathilda Lauwens (ARE)/Ali Mirza (ARE) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo (T4) | 2hr 36min 40sec |
| 17. Abdullah Al-Haydan (SAU)/Sultan Al-Haydan (SAU) Nissan (T1) | 2hr 48min 20sec |
| 18. Abdulaziz Al-Yaeesh (SAU)/Omar Al-Lahim (SAU) Nissan (T1) | 2hr 48min 50sec |
| 19. Abdullah Al-Sanad (SAU)/Abdullatif Al-Sanad (SAU) Nissan (T2) | 2hr 49min 07sec |
| 20. Orjwan Ammar (SAU)/Taye Perry (DEU) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo (T4) | 2hr 50min 28sec, etc |
| Trucks (T5) | |
| 1. Teruhito Sugawara/Hirokazu Someiya/Yuji Mochizuki (JPN) Hino 600 | 5hr 22min 34sec |
| 2. Ibrahim Al-Muhanna/Faisal Al-Suwayh/Raed Abu Theeb (SAU) Mercedes Unimog | 6hr 21min 56sec |
| 3. Tariq Al-Rammah/Muhanad Al-Khashigi/Mohammad Al-Naasan (SAU) Volvo | 23hr 03min 55sec |
| Bikes | |
| 1. Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera (SAU) KTM | 2hr 33min 11sec |
| 2. Mishal Al-Ghuneim (SAU) Beta 430 | 2hr 41min 31sec |
| 3. Bader Al-Hamdan (SAU) Yamaha | 2hr 41min 50sec |
| 4. Ehab Al-Hakeem (SAU) Yamaha | 2hr 56min 34sec |
| 5. Philip Horlemann (ARE) Husqvarna | 2hr 57min 41sec |
| 6. Luca Passone (SAU) Husqvarna | 4hr 07min 33sec |
| Quads | |
| 1. Haitham Al-Tuwaijri (SAU) Yamaha | 2hr 34min 50sec |
| 2. Abdulaziz Al-Atawi (SAU) Yamaha | 3hr 01min 02sec |
| 3. Emiel Stuckens (QAT) Yamaha | 3hr 08min 11sec |
| 4. Hani Al-Noumesi (SAU) Yamaha | 3hr 08min 21sec |
| 5. Abdulrahman Alabdullatif (SAU) Yamaha | 26hr 25min 36sec |
