Yazid Al-Rajhi wins the title of the first edition of the Tabuk Neom Rally 2023

The Saudi driver, Yazid Al-Rajhi, achieved a comfortable victory in the first edition of the Tabuk-Neum Rally, the second round of the Saudi Toyota Rally Championship, at the start of his campaign to defend his title.

Yazid set off in a Toyota Hilux Overdrive car to enter the second special stage with a length of 136 km, noting that he leads the temporary general standings after Friday’s stage, with a difference of 19:28 minutes from his closest pursuer, and he was able to expand that with the end of the last special stage, as he won by 34 :43 min.

Yazid did not participate in the first round in Hail due to an injury he suffered during a skiing trip, so this result keeps him close to the title contenders, as there are two rounds remaining this season in Al-Qassim and Jeddah, which will be held later in the year.

Yazid said: “Everything went well.. It’s a great rally, with technical characteristics with navigational functions. We are certainly happy that we came to this rally in this area that was part of the Dakar Rally track, it’s now in the Saudi Toyota Rally Championship. We won.” Stages, and now I’m looking forward to my participation in Rallye Baja Italy and Spain.”

Emirati cyclist Mohammed Al Balushi won the motorcycle category, 30:11 ahead of his brother Sultan and Saudi cyclist Meshaal Al Ghunaim. The three of them raced together in the last kilometers of yesterday’s stage (Friday), but Mohammed managed to advance in the difficult final stage and chose his path well to win the category title.

Meshaal dropped to fourth place, as he was involved in an accident on his Beta 430 RR bike, but managed to continue his rally. New Zealand rider Philip Wilson finished second in today’s stage and moved up to third in the overall standings. It’s his first podium. Sultan stayed with Meshaal after his accident, and they walked together in a sporty spirit until the end of the stage. Saudi cyclist Abdul Halim Al Mughirah completed the top five list.

Saudi driver Saleh Al-Saif overtook Dania Aqeel on the last morning to finish the rally in second place in the overall standings and win the T3 class title for a typical light desert car in his Can-Am Maverick X3.

Dania finished the rally in fourth place in the overall standings, and second in the “T3” category, noting that the Saudi driver Khaled Al-Farihi was able to get ahead of her in the last sections of the stage.

“I had a great time, it was really fun,” said Dania. “I was a bit disappointed to see that we lost second place in the overall standings, but I still enjoyed driving. We learned a lot and, honestly, it was a lot of fun. It was a good performance in the class.” T3, but it’s good to be competitive in the overall standings. It’s very difficult to compete with T1 cars when the track is so straight and fast, honestly we don’t usually look at T1 as a competition. It was a nice surprise on the first day. We did well in the last stage.”

Saudi driver Maha Al-Hamli finished the rally in eighth place in the overall standings, and first in the “T4” category for light commercial desert cars. Maha said after the end of the rally: “The stages were very beautiful. We won the (T4) category title, it is a great feeling to win.”

Hani Al-Noumsi rode his bike carefully in the last kilometers to secure the title in the quads category on a Yamaha Raptor, knowing that his compatriot Haitham Al-Tuwaijri recorded the fastest times in today’s stage. Ibn Tabuk rider Abdulaziz Al-Atwi finished the rally in third place, far behind them, after he received a few time penalties on the first day of the rally.

The rally was held in cooperation with the Ministry of Sports, and in partnership with the official partner, Abdul Latif Jameel Motors, and the strategic partner, the Saudi Investment Bank.