Al-Rajhi was fastest on the short Prologue stage and that gave him a favourable starting position for the opening 260km selective section. He finished that opener 1min 35sec clear of team-mates Juan Cruz Yacopini and Dani Oliveras and another fastest time on the final 160km stage secured victory in his Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux by 5min 49sec.

The Ha’il-based event switched from a cross-country rally to a shorter Baja format in 2020 and the success marked an eighth across the two disciplines for Al-Rajhi and a fifth for Gottschalk. It also gave them an early lead in the FIA World Baja Cup (WBC).

Al-Rajhi said: “It was a good race. Timo and I did it well. We enjoyed it. That’s the most important. The 20th anniversary of the event here was a nice one. The event is going better and better every year.”

Runner-up Yacopini said: “Both stages were very nice. The second one was a fast, sandy one with some dunes and off-piste. Navigation was not a big issue this weekend but you need a good co-driver to go faster. The gap between me and Yazeed was not too long yesterday and I wanted to push as much as I could. But he was faster than me and he made a big gap. Congratulations to him.”

Thirty-one cars graced the official start list for the event that marked the 20th anniversary of motor sport in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Eight were entered in the Ultimate category, 10 in Challenger, 10 in SSV and three in Stock. A dozen were registered for the FIA World Baja Cup and 16 were chasing FIA Middle East Baja Cup (MEBC) points.

Dania Akeel and her navigator Stéphane Duplé began the defence of her FIA Middle East Baja Cup title strongly by finishing third to give Overdrive Racing a clean sweep of the podium places and the top three places in the Ultimate category.

Akeel said: “It was a lot of fun and we won the Middle East Baja class. It was quite technical in places with some very rough parts. It was good experience.”

Khalifa Saleh Al-Attiyah is the brother of five-time Dakar winner Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah and he was fourth quickest on the opening stage in his Taurus T3 Max with navigator Dmytro Tsyro. He maintained that form to finish fourth on the second stage as well and did enough to win the Challenger category and finish second of the FIA Middle East Baja Cup runners.

Ahmed Al-Kuwari was surprised by the icy morning temperatures in Ha’il, especially in a car like his Taurus T3 Max that didn’t have a windscreen for the long liaison sections. The Qatari and Augusto Sanz reached the finish in fifth place, second in Challenger and third in the regional Baja rankings.

Saleh Al-Saif and his Spanish navigator Alexander Toril shadowed Al-Attiyah to the finish of the opening stage in a G Rally Team OT3 and another solid run through stage two netted the Saudi sixth overall, third in Challenger and third in the FIA Middle East Baja Cup rankings.

Hamza Bakhashab started strongly with the quickest time in the SSV class on the opening stage. But a one-minute speeding penalty cost the son of the 1995 FIA Middle East rally champion, Abdullah, the stage win and Abdullah Al-Haydan claimed the laurels. But Bakhashab beat all his SSV rivals on the last stage to seal SSV class success and seventh overall with Marcin Pasek in a new Can-Am Maverick R. 

Miroslav Zapletal teamed up with Polish co-driver Michal Goleniewski in his self-built F-150 Evo and the fifth fastest time on the final stage catapulted the Czech into eighth place, fourth in the Ultimate category and third of the registered FIA World Baja Cup contenders behind Al-Rajhi and Yacopini.

The Qatari brothers, Abdulaziz and Nasser Al-Kuwari, had enjoyed a strong Dakar and continued their transition from special stage rallying to off-road events with ninth place in their QMMF-backed Taurus. Nasser Racing’s Sergei Remennik and Aleksei Ignatov rounded off the top 10 and were the fourth crew home in the FIA World Baja Cup and the leading pair in the FIA WBC’s Challenger category.

Outside the top 10, Erik van Loon pedalled a South Racing Can-Am Maverick R to 11th and the runner-up spot in the SSV category with third in class and 12th overall falling to local driver Abdullah Al-Haydan (R-X Sport Maverick R). The duo also finished first and second in the FIA WBC’s SSV standings.

Abdulaziz Al-Yaeesh finished 17th overall in his Nissan Patrol with navigator Oman Al-Lahim and that result earned the Saudi points for second place in the FIA MEBC’s Ultimate category. 

Abdullah Al-Shegawi and Mohammed Al-Atteya were chasing points in the FIA Middle East Baja Cup in their Can-Ams but both stopped in the opening selective section. Portugal’s Francisco Barreto also incurred hefty time penalties for failing to complete the opening stage after serious engine problems on his Taurus. 

Fernando Alvarez suffered a back injury at the recent Dakar Rally and is awaiting a medical procedure to rectify the problem. For that reason, the South Racing Can-Am driver and navigator Xavier Panseri withdrew before the start of the event. Alvarez’s fellow countryman Diego Martinez was also a non-starter.

Qatar’s Abdullah Al-Rabban and his Emirati navigator Ali Al-Ajmi narrowly got the better of the defending regional champions, Majed Al-Thunayyan and Fahad Al-Sufyani, to earn victory in the Stock category for series production cross-country vehicles. The Nissan Patrol crew are registered for the FIA MEBC and beat their rivals by 1min 09sec.

Qatari Mohammed Al-Meer was awarded a suspended one-hour penalty for working on his car outside the service park after a differential issue on the Prologue stage but he stopped near the end of the final stage. 

The 2025 FIA World Baja Cup continues with the Jordan Baja on April 10th-12th. 

2025 Saudi Baja – result (provisional):

1. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Timo Gottschalk (DEU) Toyota Hilux Overdrive                                      4hr 28min 15sec*

2. Juan Cruz Yacopini (ARG)/Daniel Oliveras (ESP) Toyota Hilux Overdrive                                      4hr 34min 04sec*

3. Dania Akeel (SAU)/Stéphane Duplé (FRA) Toyota Hilux Overdrive                                                         4hr 38min 26sec+

4. Khalifa Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Dmytro Tsyro (UKR) Taurus T3 Max                                                         4hr 39min 51sec+

5. Ahmed Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Augusto Sanz (ARG) Taurus T3 Max                                                         4hr 46min 17sec+

6. Saleh Al-Saif (SAU)/Alexander Toril (ESP) G Rally Team OT3                                                         4hr 48min 12sec+

7. Hamza Bakhashab (SAU)/Marcin Pasek (POL) Can-Am Maverick R                                                       4hr 54min 21sec+

8. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Michal Goleniewski (POL) Ford F-150                                                         4hr 54min 28sec*

9. Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Nasser Al-Kuwari (QAT) Taurus T3 Max                                                 4hr 56min 25sec+

10. Sergei Remennik (ARE)/Aleksei Ignatov (KGZ) Taurus T3 Max                                                         4hr 58min 28sec*

11. Erik van Loon (NLD)/Wouter Rosegaar (NLD) Can-Am Maverick R                                                       5hr 00min 09sec*

12. Abdullah Al-Haydan (SAU)/Bader Al-Ajmi (SAU) Can-Am Maverick R                                    5hr 01min 15sec*

13. Meshari Al-Thefiri (KWT)/Oriol Vidal (ESP) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR                               5hr 02min 04sec+

14. Khalid Al-Jafla (ARE)/Andrei Rudnitski (LTU) Taurus T3 Max                                                         5hr 12min 54sec*

15. Moaz Hariri (SAU)/Kirill Shubin (KGZ) Can-Am Maverick R                                                         5hr 14min 50sec+

16. Alexsei Shmotov (ARE)/Yaroslav Fedorov (KGZ) Taurus T3 Max                                                         5hr 15min 19sec*

17. Abdulaziz Al-Yaeesh (SAU)/Omar Al-Lahim (SAU) Nissan Patrol                                                         5hr 17min 33sec+

18. Nasser Al-Ajmi (KWT)/Arunas Gelazninkas (LTU) Nissan Patrol                                                         5hr 22min 57sec+

19. Ahmed Al-Shamy (SAU)/Ali Hassan Obaid (ARE) Fast & Speed                                                         5hr 23min 15sec+

20. Paul Severn (GBR)/Max Delfino (FRA) Polaris RZR Pro R Sport                                                         5hr 31min 17sec*

21. Maha Al-Hamali (SAU)/Alexsei Kuzmich (ARE) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR            5hr 45min 11sec*

22. Hassan Al-Sadadi (BRN)/Ali Mirza (ARE) Can-Am Maverick X3                                                          5hr 50min 54sec+

23. Orjwan Al-Raoush (SAU)/Khalid Al-Kendi (ARE) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR            5hr 59min 52sec

24. Gerben Heisterkamp (NLD)/Wesley Aaaldering (NLD) Can-Am Maverick R                                    6hr 00min 16sec

25. Abdullah Al-Rabban (QAT)/Ali Al-Ajmi (ARE) Nissan Patrol                                                          6hr 22min 35sec+

26. Majed Al-Thunayyan (SAU)/Fahad Al-Sufyani (SAU) Nissan Patrol                                              6hr 23min 44sec*

27. Salem Al-Dhafeeri (KWT)/Fares Al-Thefiri (KWT) Nissan Patrol                                                          6hr 54min 05sec

28. Mohammed Al-Atteya (QAT)/Enio Bozzano Junior (BRA) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR  9hr 34min 16sec+

29. Abdullah Al-Shegawi (SAU)/Raed Al-Assaf (SAU) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR            14hr 38min 22sec+

Mohammed Al-Meer (QAT)/Alexey Mun (KAZ) Nissan Patrol                                                          DNF

Francisco Barreto (POR)/Paulo Fiuza (POR) Taurus T3 Max                                                            DNF

*denotes registered for FIA World Cup

+ denotes registered for FIA Middle East Cup