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Two in a hurry – Queen’s stage of the “Dakar” clearly goes to Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk

6. January 2025

Further contributions

“Dakar”, fast forward – Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk take overall lead

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...

  • Stage victory on Epiphany: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk win 48-hour stage of the Dakar Rally
  • Saudi Arabian-Brandenburg duo take second place in the overall standings
  • Extreme driving and navigational challenges on 967-kilometer special stage

Bisha, Saudi Arabia (January 6, 2025) – Back with a bang: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk have fought their way back into the leading group with an impressive stage win at the 2025 Dakar Rally. On the 48-hour stage with a 967-kilometre special stage around Bisha, the Saudi Arabian-Brandenburg duo secured victory after just under eleven hours of pure driving time – just ahead of their long-term rivals Nasser Al-Attiyah and Edouard Boulanger (QAT/FRA, Dacia). In the overall standings, they are now 2:45 minutes behind their Toyota team-mates Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings (RSA/RSA) in second place. Al-Rajhi and Gottschalk had started the queen stage of the first “Dakar” week more than 13 minutes behind and in 22nd place. They took the lead right at the start of the demanding special stage and fought an intense duel with Al-Attiyah/Boulanger. Starting from 19th on the grid, Al-Rajhi and Gottschalk were even the first vehicle to cross the finish line and took over the challenging lead for long stretches of the second part of the 48-hour stage. The two-day special stage was only interrupted by a night-time break – including an overnight stay in a tent and away from the public eye. With just under a fifth of the total stage kilometers, dune crossings played a decisive role on the 48-hour stage. In total, around half of the route was completed on sandy ground. The stage began with rocky sections and winding, rather slow paths, followed by fast sandy tracks with challenging navigation. Large parts of the stage alternated between dunes and fast off-road passages. The second day of the 48-hour stage started with very fast tracks that led into a 15-kilometer-wide dune corridor with white sand mountains, before sandy wadis formed the conclusion.

QUOTES

“David Castera really picked out something: This stage was extremely tough. We had a good pace right from the start, including the small ups and downs. We are super happy to be at the finish and to have won the stage. It was really tough!”
YAZEED AL-RAJHI

“We did really well on this stage. I already feel like I’m in my second ‘Dakar’ week. Tonight we did a lot of work because we had an oil leak and the belt had come off one of the alternators. That took a while. But we got the car back in top shape for today. We really battled throughout the entire stage and are happy about the short break this afternoon.”
TIMO GOTTSCHALK

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