• Challenging first round of the FIA Marathon Baja World Cup and the Saudi Arabian Championship – for drivers and co-drivers
• Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk start the season with victory
• Navigation in the north of Saudi Arabia particularly tricky

Ha’il, Saudi Arabia (February 10, 2024) – Dominated, made it exciting again – and won: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk got off to a strong start in the FIA Marathon Baja World Cup. At the curtain raiser of the series, which also marked the first round of the Saudi Arabian Championship, last year’s runners-up built up a lead on the first of two days, which they used to their advantage on the final stage. A small mistake with a big impact kept the suspense going right to the end: Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk drove in the wrong direction at a point that was unclear in the road book and lost a lot of time when they turned back. They then activated their reserves, made up ground and narrowly won.

The Baja Ha’il in the north of Saudi Arabia, with around 472 kilometers of testing, 856 in total, was a crisp foretaste of the next big task: the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, in which Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk are competing as last year’s winners. The second round of the FIA Cross Country World Rally Championship (W2RC) will be held from February 25 to March 2.

QUOTES

“A good result at the start of the Baja World Cup, which makes us very happy. We made it a bit tense at the end and briefly drove in the wrong direction. But our lead from the previous day and a sprint to the finish were enough for overall victory. Mistakes are part of our sport, but you have to deal with them properly – we proved that today.”

YAZEED AL-RAJHI

“A challenging Baja, both in terms of driving and navigation. Shortly before the end, I fell into a trap and we drove in the wrong direction – that cost us a lot of time. We then put our foot down again right up to the finish and activated our reserves – that was enough and showed that we can always go one better.”

TIMO GOTTSCHALK