• Fifth day of the rally, third stage: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk lose time in the Dakar Rally due to tricky navigation and stony surfaces
• Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk remain within striking distance of the overall leaders in fourth place, gap widens to 11:45 minutes
• Shortened but challenging stage due to bad weather leads to Al-Henakiyh, intermediate sprint to the marathon stage on the next two days

Al-Henakiyah, Saudi Arabia (January 7, 2025) – Easy come, easy go: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk lost time on the third leg of the Dakar Rally. The Saudi-Arabian-Brandenburg duo had to open long stretches of the stage, which was shortened to 327 kilometers, and lost time as expected. They did pioneering work, particularly on stony ground, and proceeded with appropriate caution. They are now in fourth place in the overall standings, 11:45 minutes behind their leading Toyota team-mates Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings (RSA/RSA). The stage win also remained with the Toyota team: Saood Variawa and François Cazalet (RSA/FRA) set the fastest time in the car classification on the route from Bisha to Al-Henakiyah. The next big challenge awaits on Wednesday and Thursday: the marathon stage. After the energy-sapping 48-hour stage, which pushed the drivers and co-drivers to their limits, careful management of the material will once again be required. No mechanic service is permitted in the evening; repairs may only be carried out by the participants themselves. Due to heavy storms in the Al-Henakiyah region and in view of the exertions of the previous day’s 48-hour stage – especially for the privateers – the organizer shortened the third special stage from 496 to 327 kilometers. As a result, the originally planned 196 kilometers of special stage in difficult terrain, which had previously been affected by heavy rainfall, were omitted. Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk then tackled this challenge from a starting position further back in the field – ideal conditions to make up ground. At the beginning, the shortened route led through volcanic landscapes with technical and winding terrain. Dust and fesh-fesh did not make life any easier for the drivers. After 90 kilometers of special stages, the pace increased and more off-piste sections demanded the attention of the navigators. The pace increased steadily up to kilometer 240, before another technical section of around 40 kilometers slowed the pace again. The finish sprint finally followed on a stony but fast surface.

QUOTES

“We opened up the route over a long stretch today and were careful on the sharp rocks. Our opponents in the overall classification, on the other hand, took much more risk and overtook us shortly before the finish.”
YAZEED AL-RAJHI

“Opening the route today was anything but ideal. Not only in terms of navigation, but also in terms of driving, because we wanted to avoid punctures by driving carefully on the stones. As a result, we lost time, but will start tomorrow’s stage from further back, which in turn can bring us advantages – especially with a view to the marathon stage.”
TIMO GOTTSCHALK