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.
“Dakar”, fast forward – Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk take overall lead
Further contributions
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...
Engine failure! Bitter disappointment for Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk in Abu Dhabi
Kilometer 13 on the final day brings the end: Technical problem costs valuable points and the lead in the FIA Cross Country Rally World Championship (W2RC) Almost "zero" instead of fourth place in the unloved Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge Looking ahead: three more World...
- From +5:41 to -7:09 minutes: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk take the lead in the Dakar Rally
- Third place on the day: courage and willpower are rewarded on the challenging stage to Haradh
- Particularly fast special stage over 357 kilometers with an extra challenge for the navigators
Haradh, Saudi Arabia (January 14, 2025) – New kings in the speed empire: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk have taken the narrow lead of the 2025 Dakar Rally on the ninth stage. The Saudi Arabian-Brandenburg duo took a total of 12:50 minutes off the previous leaders Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings on the full-throttle stage from Riyadh to Haradh. This puts the cross-country rally runners-up ahead by 7:09 minutes – and just in time before the “Dakar” undergoes a change of theme, pace and terrain on Wednesday. The cross-country rally entourage will then reach the Empty Quarter, the most hostile desert in the world. On the final three stages, the focus is on lots of dunes and sand, sand, sand. The day’s victory went to Nasser Al-Attiyah/Edouard Boulanger (QAT/FRA, Dacia), Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk were third fastest. Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk took the virtual lead in the overall standings at kilometer 123 of 357. Starting the special stage as the sixth car, they gradually caught up with the duos that had started ahead of them – a few kilometers before the stage finish, they had even closed the gap to Lategan/Cummings, who had to open the route as the stage winners of the previous day, to two minutes. A look at the statistics shows just how great the burden of the opening stage is: no driver/co-driver duo has ever managed to win two stages at the 2025 Dakar Rally. A generally rather short and crisp, fast stage with a small “but”: the navigation – the stage from Riyadh to Haradh was, in typical “Dakar” fashion, a tough one. Off-piste here, paths there, all with the “fast” or “very fast” seal of approval. Of course, not without a few rough passages through canyons and a few technical, technically demanding slopes. The special stage covered 357 kilometers against the clock, interrupted only by a neutralization break at kilometer 217.
QUOTES
“The last time on gravel before the Empty Quarter, and another really difficult stage with an enormously high pace. The navigation was really tough – Timo did a great job. Leading before the last three stages is great.”
YAZEED AL-RAJHI
“Millions of junctions! It was really difficult to find the right way, especially at that speed. Two or three corners were particularly tricky. Even Yazeed had better intuition at times – we complemented each other well. We gave it our all and our plan worked well.”
TIMO GOTTSCHALK