Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk make the most of a muddy and tricky Rally Portugal in sixth place Points maximization beats attack mode: controlled risk for a catch-up start to the season Second round of the FIA World Cross Country Rally Championship (W2RC) season...
Speed it up! Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk claim second at “Dakar”
Further contributions
Scout score: 1, day rank: 16 – Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk with another top performance at the “Dakar”
There are Wolves, Rangers and Rovers, and there are … Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk. The 2025 Dakar Rally winners showed all their skills on the third stage around al-‘Ula as they defended their title.
Back on track: Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk impress on stage two of the Dakar Rally
Back on the road to success: “Dakar” title defenders Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk have made their first mark in the Dakar Rally with third place on the day.
First things come differently … – Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk with frustrating “Dakar” stage at the beginning
Now it’s time to go: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk have started the 2026 Dakar Rally with a lot of lost time.
On the pace at the start – Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk with a solid prologue at the Dakar Rally
Sixth position on short 22-kilometer prologue - Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk in tightly bunched leading group Brevity with spice: Tricky opening stage in terms of driving and navigation sets the "Dakar" tone early on The real kick-off follows on Sunday with the first stage...
In demand, hunted – Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk take on the “Dakar” title defense mission
Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk start the 2026 Dakar Rally from January 3 to 17 in Saudi Arabia as defending champions in a tricky mission.
New car, new victory, new title
Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk end the 2025 cross-country rally season with a victory and the title of Saudi Arabian champions New car for the Dakar Rally: tested, tried, run in Jeddah Rally offers compact preparation for the January highlight: the "Dakar" title...
Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk win Baja Qassim
First success on the "Road to the 'Dakar'" - Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk win round of the Saudi Arabian Rally Championship Terrain in the province of Qassim good preparation for the Dakar Rally in January Al-Rajhi and Gottschalk gain rally and self-confidence after around 400...
“Road to the ‘Dakar'” through Morocco particularly rocky
Not yet back to 100 percent – that’s the realization for Yazeed Al-Rajhi/Timo Gottschalk after the Morocco Rally.
Important kilometers on the “Road to Dakar” – Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk competitive in Portugal
Lisbon, Portugal (September 28, 2025) – Carefully feeling their way back to the top of the world: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk showed good form at the Rally Portugal. The Dakar winners proved their competitiveness on many stages of the fourth round of the FIA...
- Top driving and navigational performance: fifth place on the day for Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk
- World championship runners-up take more than ten minutes off the new leaders Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz
- Section from Al Henakiyah to Ad-Dawadimi with a lot of speed, first dune crossings, through canyons and with many tricky direction changes
Ad-Dawadimi, Saudi Arabia (January 7, 2024) – Challenge accepted, challenge mastered: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk put down a big marker on the second day of the Dakar Rally and took second place in the overall standings. Coming from eighth place, they not only made up ground on paper, but above all on the track. The Saudi-Arabian-Brandenburg duo overtook five rivals early on, setting the fifth-best time of the day and taking over ten minutes off the new front-runners Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (ESP/ESP, Audi) piece by piece. This means that Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk are also in a top starting position for the third day. Just one minute and 51 seconds behind in the overall standings, they will start tomorrow’s leg from Ad-Dawadimi to Al Salmiyah in fifth place – a kind of “sweet spot” in cross-country rallying. Victory on the day went to Stéphane Peterhansel/Edouard Boulanger (FRA/FRA, Audi).
The second leg of the 2024 Dakar Rally led from Al Henakiyah to Ad-Dawadimi. The fast special stage with 462 kilometers against the clock, 49 of which were neutralized in transfer zones on asphalt, was a challenge for drivers and co-drivers alike. For the first time in the 2024 edition of the “Dakar”, dunes were on the agenda, 35 kilometers of rather easy nature thanks to uncomplicated ascents on firm sand. Canyons and a jumble of sandy tracks with many changes of direction in wadis rounded off the program.
QUOTES
“A nice stage, sometimes very technical and slow, sometimes really fast. We got through well, overtook a few competitors and didn’t have any punctures. This second day went really well.”
YAZEED AL-RAJHI
“The stage is in the bag! We got a lot out of our good starting position, Yazeed drove great. Good pace, but he never overdid it. Navigation was difficult at times and we had to find directions here and there. A nice stage, sometimes fast, sometimes technical. A good day for us!”
TIMO GOTTSCHALK
AND THEN THERE WAS …
… a hot piece of metal. The turbo in the Toyota Hilux DKR, as driven by Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk in the 2024 Dakar Rally, runs at an average of 1,000 degrees Celsius. No wonder: after all, the speeds in this component are 175,000 revolutions.