Mishal Al-Ghuneim and Abdulmajeed Al-Khulaifi snatch bike and quad advantages
Yazeed Al-Rajhi and German co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz increased their lead in Rally Qassim to 10min 35sec after setting the fastest time on a tricky desert selective section of 184km on Thursday.
The Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux driver stopped the clocks in a time of 1hr 39min 22sec on the Ash Shimasiyah stage, despite a puncture near the finish.
Al-Rajhi said: “It was a good day. Everything went well for us. We start in 10th position. I think the first car it was difficult to open because some places were tricky navigation. We lead now and that should be more than enough for tomorrow.”
Co-driver Von Zitzewitz added: “It was a good day. It was exciting. I didn’t know what to expect from this rally championship in the open desert. The road book was challenging. We had to look a little bit at the navigation and slow down a little to understand the road book. But Yazeed did a great job. It was a difficult stage, I have to admit. It was tricky in some places. Good fun and many friendly people here. Yazeed is a hero here and the people are very open-minded and great. Three kilometres before the end we hit a stone and got a puncture on the rear-right but decided to drive it to the finish, so no problem.”
Saudi Border Guard team driver Khalid Al-Feraihi benefitted from the navigational prowess of his experienced French co-driver Sébastien Delaunay to set the second quickest time and move into a similar position in the overall rankings. The Saudi said: “It was a good day overall. We did not get lost.”
Navigational delays cost Czech driver Miroslav Zapletal some time and the Ford F-150 driver slipped to fourth place behind Al-Mashna Al-Rimali.
Mohammed Al-Tuwaijri now holds fifth place. The Saudi said: “It was a fast stage; the weather was moderate. We expected it to be hotter. It was difficult to navigate with long sandy tracks. We got lost several times and broke the drive shaft in the first 80km, so I lose the four-wheel drive and there was a puncture at the end.”
Sixth-placed Abdullah Al-Sanad moved to the top of the T2 standings for drivers of series production cross-country cars and Saleh Al-Saif edged into a 2min 18sec advantage over fellow Can-Am rival Dania Akeel in the T3 tussle.
Akeel said: “We had a great time. It was smooth, excellent. We practiced a lot to find the cap to save time and avoid going in circles. In the beginning we went off track for around two minutes and then made sure it didn’t happen again.”
It was a difficult day for eighth-placed Ahmed Al-Shegawi. “The car jumped high and landed on a rock, so we broke the drive shaft. We stopped to check the car and we could not fix it, so we decided to complete the stage as we could and we were lucky to reach the finish line.”
Saeed Al-Mouri and Jordanian co-driver Ata Al-Hmoud hold a 15min 42sec lead over Maha Al-Hameli and her Swedish co-driver Annie Seel in the T4 rankings.
Mishal Al-Ghuneim moved into a useful 20min 45sec lead over Qatar-based Aussie Martin Chalmers in the motorcycle category. The Saudi KTM rider won the stage comfortably and his cause was further aided when Chalmers picked up a three-minute time penalty for over-speeding in a restricted zone. Fawaz Al-Toami came home in third place.
Al-Ghuneim said: “It was a good start. I had a good pace in the first 30km or so. But, when I arrived at waypoint four, I realised that my Stellar didn’t track the waypoint before and I got frustrated a bit and I headed back seven kilometres to retrack the waypoint and start again. By then, I had lost so much time. At km40, I got lost a bit and lost another 10 minutes there. I thought it was not my day. I saw everyone start ahead of me but then I noticed, at km140, that everyone came off the track and I saw no tracks in front of me and I got excited again. I was surprised to finish first!”
Abdulmajeed Al-Khulaifi snatched the laurels in the quad section on his Yamaha. The Saudi finished the special over 13 minutes in front of Abdulaziz Al-Atawi and over half an hour ahead of overnight leader Haitham Al-Tuwaijri after both his rivals incurred time penalties for missing a waypoint and for over-speeding.
Rally Qassim is being organised by the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF), in conjunction with the Ministry of Sport and in partnership with Abdul Latif Jameel (ALJ) Motors Toyota. The event is being held under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Dr. Faisal bin Mishaal bin Saud bin Abdulaziz, Prince of the Al-Qassim region.
Tomorrow (Saturday), competitors tackle a shorter selective section of 123km to the south-west of Buraydah. A liaison of 54km takes crews to the start of the action.
Rally Qassim 2022 – positions after SS1 (unofficial):
Cars
1. Yazeed Al-Rajhi (SAU)/Dirk von Zitzewitz (DEU) Toyota Hilux 1hr 55min 52sec
2. Khalid Al-Feraihi (SAU)/Sébastien Delaunay (FRA) Nissan 2hr 06min 27sec
3. Al-Mashna Al-Ramali (SAU)/Murdi Al-Shammeri (SAU) Nissan 2hr 11min 44sec
4. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Marek Sykora (SVK) Ford F-150 Evo 2hr 16min 40sec
5. Mohammed Al-Tuwaijri (SAU)/Hector Garcia (PER) Nissan 2hr 20min 45sec
Bikes
1. Mishal Al-Ghuneim (SAU) KTM 2hr 47min 48sec
2. Martin Chalmers (QAT) Honda 3hr 08min 33sec
3. Fawaz Al-Toaimi (SAU) Yamaha 3hr 25min 25sec
4. Yaseer Al-Khaleef (SAU) KTM 3hr 34min 40sec
5. Ahmed Al-Jaber (SAU) KTM 3hr 41min 50sec
Quads
1. Abdulmajeed Al-Khulaifi (SAU) Yamaha 3hr 38min 30sec
2. Abdulaziz Al-Atawi (SAU) Yamaha 3hr 53min 38sec
3. Haitham Al-Tuwaijri (SAU) Yamaha 4hr 09min 06sec
4. Hani Al-Noumesi (SAU) Yamaha 13hr 26min 24sec
Source SAMF
