Defending automotive champion Yazeed Al-Rajhi faces an uphill battle on the 2026 Dakar Rally after a troubled opening stage, through which he misplaced vital time and incurred a heavy penalty.
Shortly after his Dakar victory in 2025, Al-Rajhi and navigator Timo Gottschalk suffered accidents that compelled them to overlook a number of rounds of the World Rally-Raid Championship. The Saudi driver and his German co-driver had been solely capable of contest a handful of – admittedly unremarkable – warm-up occasions late within the 12 months earlier than beginning their title defence this weekend.
Al-Rajhi confirmed stable tempo within the prologue with sixth place, however the first stage counting in direction of the general classification didn’t go to plan. He completed thirty ninth on the 305km take a look at in Yanbu on the west coast of Saudi Arabia, shedding virtually 29 minutes to winner Guillaume de Mevius (X-raid Mini).
A big a part of that deficit was attributable to a 16-minute penalty for lacking a waypoint and committing a dashing infringement. Even with out the penalty, nevertheless, the Overdrive Toyota driver nonetheless misplaced almost 13 minutes to de Mevius.
“At a tough part with many canyons, we selected the flawed one, although Timo had the correct feeling,” Al-Rajhi defined.
“We determined to attempt it anyway. Because of the mud from different opponents, we managed to seek out the proper route once more, nevertheless it was too late. Not an excellent begin to the Dakar Rally and a giant time loss.”
#201 Overdrive Racing Toyota: Yazeed Al Rajhi, Timo Gottschalk
Picture by: A.S.O.
That was not the one challenge, as Gottschalk defined after the opening stage.
“We already had two punctures early on, earlier than taking the flawed canyon at a tough level,” the German added.
Taking the flawed flip in the end led to lacking a waypoint, which resulted within the time penalty for the crew.
“Though we had been again on the proper route fairly shortly, we sadly validated the following waypoint and subsequently acquired the penalty. Not begin, however there’s nonetheless plenty of terrain forward of us and we definitely gained’t hand over. We’ll attempt to get better as a lot floor as attainable over the following 12 levels,” he stated.
On Monday, Al-Rajhi and Gottschalk will get their first alternative to bounce again from the disappointing opening stage. The second aggressive stage covers 400 kilometres and takes the sector from Yanbu to Al-‘Ula.
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