Rally Jeddah AL-RAJHI, GOTTSCHALK WIN

Saudi Arabian driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi and his German navigator Timo Gottschalk stayed out of trouble to record a comfortable victory in Rally Jeddah, after the second desert selective section between Al-Buraikah and Khulais, on Saturday.
The Hummer Dbug driver began the day with a lead of 13 minutes 54 seconds over Motair Al-Shammeri’s Nissan Pick-Up, once results had been finalised and penalties had been added, and extended his advantage (34:40) over eventual runner-up Yayha Al-Helai on the final competitive section through the desert, north of Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia.
It was the Riyadh driver’s second victory in the event in the two years since it was devised by Abdullah Bakhashab and his team, in cooperation with the Saudi Arabian Motor Federation (SAMF).
The Emirati duo of Al-Helai and Khalid Al-Kendi suffered GPS and tracking issues on Friday and were given a notional time for the opening stage, but they returned with a vengeance in their Nissan Patrol to set the fourth quickest time on the final stage. That catapulted the duo into second overall.
Saudi’s Moneef Al-Sulaimani (Nissan Patrol) moved through the field on the final stage to finish third overall, Ahmed Al-Sabban climbed from 10th to fourth in his Ford Raptor and Ahmed Al Qashimi rounded off the top five in his Nissan.
Saudi’s Abdul-Majeed Al-Khulaifi (Kawasaki) began the final day with a lead of (6:13) over Sultan Al-Masood in the motorcycle and quad category. Last year’s winner stayed clear of trouble to reach the stage finish with the second quickest time and record victory over Al-Masood by a margin (8:44). Ahmed Al-Nasir won the stage on his Honda 450.
Final positions: (Cars): 1 Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Hummer Dbug (4h28m40s); 2 Yayha Al-Helai (ARE)/Khalid Al-Kendi (ARE) Nissan Patrol (5:03:20); 3 Moneef Al-Sulaimani (SAU)/Ahmed Al-Hajri (OMN) Nissan Patrol (5:04:38); 4 Ahmed Al-Sabban (SAU)/Adel Hussein Abdullah (QAT) Ford Raptor (5:05:39); 5 Ahmed Al-Qashimi (SAU)/Waleed Al-Fuaim (SAU) Nissan Patrol (5:05:59); 6 Emil Kneisser (LEB)/Aleksei Kuzmich (RUS) Nissan Patrol (5:09:27); 7 Khalid Abdullah (SAU)/Tariq Matar Ibrahim (SAU) Toyota (5:21:32); 8 Motair Al-Shammeri (SAU)/Raid Al-Assaf (SAU) Nissan Pick-Up (5: 22:16); 9 Saleh Saeed Al-Hoot (SAU)/Anas Al-Ghamdi (SAU) Nissan Patrol (5:25:58); 10 Ahmed Shegawi (SAU)/Laurent Lichtleuchter (FRA) Nissan Pick-up (5:41:04).
(Motorcycles/Quads): 1 Abdul-Majeed Al-Khulaifi (SAU) Kawasaki 450 (3:11:01sec); 2 Sultan Al-Masood (SAU) Yamaha 450 (3:19:45); 3 Ahmed Al-Nasir (SAU) Honda 450 (3:28:19); 4 Faisal Fahad Al-Sharif (SAU) Ram 503 quad (3:51:36); 5 Abdulaziz Al-Hathlool (SAU) Honda 450.