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.
Game over – Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk have to give up their dream of winning the “Dakar” while in the 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...
- Small cause, big effect: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk have to abort an aggravated marathon stage after multiple rollovers – driver and co-driver are okay
- Saudi Arabian-Brandenburg duo set the pace until the rollover and extend their lead in the overall standings
- Restart possible in second “Dakar” week according to restart rules, WRC points for stage successes the goal
Shubaytah, Saudi Arabia (January 11, 2024) – The dream of winning the “Dakar” is over. Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk ended the tough marathon stage of the Dakar Rally early after a multiple rollover. The driver and co-driver are fine despite the heavy roll and minor injuries. The Toyota Hilux DKR of the Saudi-Arabian-Brandenburg duo was leveraged out by a small bump after a chot at kilometer 51 of the sixth day of competition and overturned. It was not possible to repair the resulting damage on site. Al-Rajhi and Gottschalk now make their way back to the bivouac, where the Overdrive team will try to get the Toyota Hilux DKR ready for the second “Dakar” week, provided it has not suffered any structural damage. The aim is to collect points in the daily rankings for the FIA Cross Country Rally World Championship (W2RC).
Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk had led the 2024 Dakar Rally after strong performances from day three and continuously extended their lead over the pursuers. On the sixth day of the competition, they were on the verge of continuing this trend. At the split time at kilometer 49, they had already taken almost eight minutes off the current world champions Nasser Al-Attiyah/Matthieu Baumel (QAT/FRA, Prodrive) – without taking any major risks.
QUOTES
“After a long chot, we went slightly uphill. There, we were leveraged out by a small bump and rolled over several times. We weren’t driving wildly, we didn’t risk too much – on the contrary. Nevertheless, things like this can happen in our sport, it’s part of the game. We are obviously extremely disappointed.”
YAZEED AL-RAJHI
“Small cause, big effect: a small bump took us out today. Half a meter more to the right or left – nothing would have happened. But that’s cross-country rallying. Of course we are bitterly disappointed to have to give up our dream of victory while leading, but we are also pleased that we have proven that we can not only keep up with the pace at the ‘Dakar’, but also set it. Now we hope to be able to start again in the second week and collect W2RC points. That will be decided in the bivouac.”
TIMO GOTTSCHALK