Jeddah [Saudi Arabia], November 15: Yazeed Al Rajhi and his German navigator Dennis Zenz stormed through the final 83.89km stage of the Jeddah Baja Toyota Rally to secure the driver's record-breaking seventh victory on Saturday morning.
The Overdrive Toyota Hilux driver runs with support from Jameel Motorsport and began the day trailing Qatar's Nasser Saleh Al Attiyah and his French navigator Max Delfino by 1min 07.8sec. But Al Rajhi and Zenz overcame the tricky navigation on the short competitive stage better than their rivals to secure a winning margin of 6min 43.8sec and the lead in the Saudi Toyota Rally Championship.
Al Rajhi said: "I am very happy that we won this race. Dennis did a great job today. It was not easy navigation but we worked together. My team did a great job, like always, and we enjoyed it a lot. A lot of people lost their way today but we managed it."
Emirati biker Mohammed Al Balooshi and local quad pace-setter Haitham Al Tuwaijri confirmed victories in the motorcycle and quad categories on this second round of the off-road series.
The Baja ran under the supervision of SAMF Chairman H.R.H. Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al Abdullah Al Faisal. It was organized by the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF) in conjunction with the Ministry of Sport and official partner Jameel Motorsport. Additional support came from Toyota, Lexonz and Brandship.
Saleh Al Saif and Albert Veliamovic again got the better of Challenger rivals Dania Akeel and Sebastien Delaunay to secure the final place on the podium in their G Rally Team OT3. Akeel finished fourth in a Taurus T3 Max. The success was Al-Saif's fourth in the class in the last five years.
A fascinating duel developed for SSV honours between Maha Al Hamali and Hamad Al Harbi in their Can-Am Maverick Rs. Al Hamali and Alexsei Kuzmich were quickest on the day and that enabled them to stay clear of Al Harbi and Faisal Al Suwayh to take the class win and fifth overall. Both crews moved ahead of Khalaf Joan Al Shammeri and Mashal Saleh Al Shammeri on the last stage and the Nissan Patrol duo slipped to seventh.
Abdulaziz Al Yaeesh and Omar Al Lahim reached the finish in 11th in their Isuzu D-Max and topped the leader board in the Stock category for series-production cross-country machines.
Al Balooshi was content to let his brother Sultan take the fastest time on the final stage in the motorcycle race but the MX Ride Dubai duo reached the finish in first and second places, with Mohammed securing a winning margin of 6min 10.0sec.
Ibrahim Al-Jaralla overhauled Dominic Wells on the last stage to round off the motorcycle podium with Abdullah Al Jahdali finishing a distant fifth on his Yamaha.
Haitham Al Tuwaijri ceded the final stage win to Abdulrahman Alabdullatif in the quad category but the Yamaha rider had done enough over the previous two days to eventually secure a winning margin of 16min 57.0sec over his CF Moto C Force 1000 rival - his fourth success in five years at the Jeddah Baja.
The Saudi Toyota Rally Championship concludes with the Qassim Baja - Dec 1-4.
Source: Qatar Tribune
