When reality doesn’t match the carefully thought-out plan 100 percent: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk made the most of a tricky opening leg of the Dakar Rally, finishing eighth on the day.
Cool, calm, collected: Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk secure podium result at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge
Further contributions
The discovery of slowness: Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk with a strategic start at the “Dakar”
Stop once in a while, take a deep breath – all with sights set to a good starting position: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk deliberately slowed down on the Dakar Rally prologue.
With drive and humility to the “Dakar” – Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk ahead of the “Big Mama” of all desert rallies
And now: Dakar Rally! Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk start the world’s toughest rally on Friday.
How? Another review of the year? Why this one with Timo Gottschalk is without exception positive and worth reading
A national rally title at the end, a sensational podium at the Dakar Rally before that and particularly sweet victories against the cremé-de-la-créme of cross-country rallying – this fast-forward through Timo Gottschalk’s motorsport year 2023 goes just that: far too fast, given the many remarkable things that happened.
Saving the best for last: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk win Rally Morocco and are both runners-up in the world championship
Superlative, bitte! Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk have won the FIA Cross Country Rally World Championship season finale, which featured a top-class field of competitors.
Podium in the Sierras Pampeanas – Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk finish Desafío Ruta 40 in third place overall
Podium: ja, Traumresultat: nein – Yazeed Al-Rajhi und Timo Gottschalk haben die Desafío Ruta 40 auf dem dritten Platz beendet.
Washing machine with spin cycle: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk win Italian Baja
Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk have won the Italian Baja 2023 in a duel with five-time “Dakar” winner Nasser Al-Attiyah and his co-driver Matthieu Baumel.
Really strong to second place – Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk on the podium at the Sonora Rally
Strong performance, excellent points haul: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk celebrated second place overall at the Sonora Rally and thus their second podium result in a row.
The desert is shaking! Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk win the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge
With driving nous and a foot to the floor: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk have won the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.
Desert miracle, motorsport fairytale – Moraes and Gottschalk celebrate podium finish at the Dakar Rally
The kings of consistency have been crowned: Lucas Moraes and Timo Gottschalk caused a sensation with third place in the 2023 Dakar Rally.
- Third place in the second round of the FIA World Rally Raid Championship (W2RC) for Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk
- Saudi-Arabian-Brandenburg duo take their personal maximum points from unloved terrain
- Calculated risk on tricky, blind dune descents pays off
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (March 2, 2024) – A clever approach to the podium: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk secured third place in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, scoring important points in the battle for the FIA World Rally Raid Championship (W2RC). The second round of the W2RC was a tough one, with tricky dune crossings and blind, fast descents. By taking a big risk, he could have made up significantly more time over the five days of the competition plus the prologue. But Al-Rajhi and Gottschalk opted for a different strategy and were proved right. All sorts of dramas in the field caused some opponents to retire early – but the Saudi Arabian-Brandenburg duo made it safely onto the podium. Overall victory went to Nasser Al-Attiyah/Eduoard Boulanger (QAT/FRA, Prodrive) ahead of Seth Quintero/Dennis Zenz (USA/GER, Toyota).
Thanks to their podium finish, Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk improved to fifth place in the W2RC standings, level on points with Lucas Moraes/Armand Monleon (BRA/ESP, Toyota). The “Dakar” winners Carlos Sainz/Lucas Cruz (ESP/ESP, Audi) continue to lead the overall standings.
QUOTES
“As expected, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge was a very difficult rally with many traps to fall into. We are quite happy with third place. We deliberately slowed down here and there to make sure we scored points for the W2RC.”
YAZEED AL-RAJHI
“We know that we weren’t the fastest this time, but we made a conscious decision not to take too many risks. With many blind and steep dune descents, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge was really tough. The main thing for us was to score good points, which we did and are now back in a good position for the rest of the season. We know where we can improve if we want to. All in all, a top result.”
TIMO GOTTSCHALK