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...
Full throttle in the Empty Quarter: duel for the “Dakar” victory goes down to the wire
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...
- Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk lose their narrow “Dakar” lead on the first stage in the Rub al-Chali
- Before the decisive final two stages: Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk 2:27 minutes behind Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings
- Good starting position for both duos on the long desert stage on Thursday
Shubaytah, Saudi Arabia (January 15, 2025) – Short, but crisp and above all: tricky. Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk kept their chances of victory alive on the tenth stage of the Dakar Rally. After 4,568 of 4,982 stage kilometers, the Saudi Arabian-Brandenburg duo is 2:27 minutes behind Henk Lategan/Brett Cummings (RSA/RSA, Toyota) in second place in the overall standings, which they had narrowly led before the stage. On the remaining 414 stage kilometers, spread over the next two days, the outcome of the race is still wide open. Two more tough desert stages in the Empty Quarter are then on the agenda. It was Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk who opened the route through the dunes early on. At kilometer 82, the runners-up got stuck in the deep sand and lost almost four additional minutes. Stage ten of the 2025 Dakar Rally was something of an appetizer for the Des(s)ert: The ultra-short, but enormously demanding special stage over 120 kilometers consisted of more than nine tenths of dunes: small, large, medium, gently rising and steeply sloping, broken and those from the picture book. The terrain of the Empty Quarter – the largest sand desert in the world – is also on the agenda for the next two days, which will determine the outcome of the Dakar Rally. The Rub al-Chali stretches over 680,000 square kilometers.
QUOTES
“We were allowed to open the route early on, which is not always easy in the dunes. We got stuck once, that happens. But everything is fine. We’re not putting any pressure on ourselves and are looking forward to the next two days in the Empty Quarter.”
YAZEED AL-RAJHI
“As expected, we lost time on this stage. After around 20 kilometers we had already caught up with those who had started ahead of us and lost a lot of time. Around 40 kilometers before the finish, we got stuck and had to maneuver our way out with sand plates. That cost us about four minutes. Tomorrow we’ll be in a better starting position and might be able to put things right.”
TIMO GOTTSCHALK