• Defending champions make up some of the ground lost the previous day with third place on the day
• Strong driving and navigational performance on the section between Yanbu and al-‘Ula
• Toyota dominating power on first narrow and angular and later open terrain

al-‘Ula, Saudi Arabia (January 5, 2026) – Back on the road to success: “Dakar” title defenders Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk have made their first mark at the Dakar Rally with third place on the day. On the extremely long, strenuous and stony section from Yanbu to al-‘Ula, they started in the less than ideal 27th position after losing time the previous day, were stuck in the dust for a long time – but made up ground despite taking calculated risks – around five minutes on the new overall leaders Nasser Al-Attiyah/Fabian Lurquin (QAT/BEL, Dacia). The day’s classification was firmly in Toyota hands: the top five wore the Japanese manufacturer’s badge, led by the day’s winners Seth Quintero/Andrew Short (USA/USA), who were just 1:56 minutes faster than Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk.

The second stage from Yanbu to al-‘Ula proved to be much more varied and challenging than the previous day. At the beginning, the stage ran over narrow, stony and very winding tracks in the Hedjaz Mountains, on which a high pace was not possible at first. With the mountains behind them, however, the terrain opened up, the route became faster and led across wide, sandy plains and through winding wadis, which were still full of water in places. After a neutralization and transfer section of two kilometers, long, very fast valleys and plateaus set the pace before more technical canyon passages with trial-like and rocky sections were on the agenda. The final kilometers demanded full concentration in the varied off-road terrain with small dunes until the finish at the bivouac of al-‘Ula.

QUOTES

“A long, exhausting and, above all, very rocky stage. We had to contend with dust most of the time and didn’t make as much progress as we had hoped. But we are super happy with the result!”
YAZEED AL-RAJHI

“Lots of stones today, lots of dust with little chance of overtaking. It only got a bit faster at the end when the terrain opened up. Yazeed did a good job, not taking too many risks and taking control on the rocky sections – that paid off. Let’s see how it goes over the next few days.”
TIMO GOTTSCHALK