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.
The discovery of slowness: Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk with a strategic start at the “Dakar”
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...
- Looking at the starting position: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk finish 41st with a deliberately cautious and calculated drive.
- Real start to the Dakar Rally on Saturday – with the first tricky and rocky stage from Al-‘Ula to Al Henakiyah
- Prologue: 27 kilometers against the clock, northwest of Al-‘Ula – on sand, through gorges and between rocks
Al-‘Ula, Saudi Arabia (January 5, 2024) – Stop once, 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. Although the time of the prologue does not count towards the overall standings, the result was still important. The top ten duos were allowed to choose their starting position for the first stage. The aim was not to finish in the top ten in order to have a good starting position for the first stage. A lot of stones are expected – especially on the final kilometers. The more competitors who have passed these passages before, the clearer the line. The Saudi-Arabian-Brandenburg duo finished 41st in the prologue classification with their tactics.
The prologue led northwest of Al’Ula between rocks and through a number of canyons – here the co-drivers were particularly in demand, as navigation errors were inevitable.
QUOTES
“We have created a good starting position for tomorrow, that was the goal. But there could have been a few less teams waiting to overtake. But it was difficult to estimate how much we had to slow down to avoid finishing in the top ten. Nevertheless, the grid position could help us enormously tomorrow.”
YAZEED AL-RAJHI
“We deliberately slowed down today and even stopped once. We certainly didn’t want to finish in the top ten, but perhaps we overdid it a bit – it was also difficult to estimate in advance. The time doesn’t count towards the overall standings and now we have a few teams ahead of us. That can be good, because the first stage has a long stretch of rocky passages at the end.”
TIMO GOTTSCHALK
AND THEN THERE WAS …
… a large portion of “multi-culturalism”. The Overdrive Racing team, which fields the Toyota Hilux DKR for Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk, has 107 team members – from 21 different nations.