When reality doesn’t match the carefully thought-out plan 100 percent: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk made the most of a tricky opening leg of the Dakar Rally, finishing eighth on the day.
Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk kick-off Marathon Baja World Cup with victory
Further contributions
The discovery of slowness: Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk with a strategic start at the “Dakar”
Stop once in a while, 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.
With drive and humility to the “Dakar” – Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk ahead of the “Big Mama” of all desert rallies
And now: Dakar Rally! Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk start the world’s toughest rally on Friday.
How? Another review of the year? Why this one with Timo Gottschalk is without exception positive and worth reading
A national rally title at the end, a sensational podium at the Dakar Rally before that and particularly sweet victories against the cremé-de-la-créme of cross-country rallying – this fast-forward through Timo Gottschalk’s motorsport year 2023 goes just that: far too fast, given the many remarkable things that happened.
Saving the best for last: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk win Rally Morocco and are both runners-up in the world championship
Superlative, bitte! Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk have won the FIA Cross Country Rally World Championship season finale, which featured a top-class field of competitors.
Podium in the Sierras Pampeanas – Al-Rajhi/Gottschalk finish Desafío Ruta 40 in third place overall
Podium: ja, Traumresultat: nein – Yazeed Al-Rajhi und Timo Gottschalk haben die Desafío Ruta 40 auf dem dritten Platz beendet.
Washing machine with spin cycle: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk win Italian Baja
Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk have won the Italian Baja 2023 in a duel with five-time “Dakar” winner Nasser Al-Attiyah and his co-driver Matthieu Baumel.
Really strong to second place – Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk on the podium at the Sonora Rally
Strong performance, excellent points haul: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk celebrated second place overall at the Sonora Rally and thus their second podium result in a row.
The desert is shaking! Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk win the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge
With driving nous and a foot to the floor: Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk have won the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.
Desert miracle, motorsport fairytale – Moraes and Gottschalk celebrate podium finish at the Dakar Rally
The kings of consistency have been crowned: Lucas Moraes and Timo Gottschalk caused a sensation with third place in the 2023 Dakar Rally.
- 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