HAIL: Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi, Jordan’s Abdullah Abu Aisheh and Saudi Arabia’s Abdulmajeed Al-Khulaifi topped the car, motorcycle and quad categories after a shortened 3.91-kilometer qualifying stage at the start of the three-day Saudi Baja 2022 in Hail on Thursday.
Al-Rajhi and his German co-driver Dirk von Zitzewitz stopped the clock in 3 minutes, 9.9 seconds to win the day’s stage by 8.8 seconds in their Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux.
Brazilian driver Cristiano de Sousa Batista and his Portuguese co-driver Fausto Mota came home in second and first in T4, and Al-Rajhi’s Czech title rival Miroslav Zapletal and his Slovakian co-driver Marek Sykora were third. Fourth-placed Fernando Alvarez and Xavier Panseri topped the T3 standings.
Young Jordanian rider Abdullah Abu Aishah topped the times on two wheels with a run of 3:33.0 on his KTM Factory Rally 450. Great Britain’s Alex McInnes and Makis Rees-Stavros were second and third.
Local Yamaha Raptor rider Abdulmajeed Al-Khulaifi beat Abdulaziz Ahli by nine seconds to win the quad stage. He was also faster than the leading motorcyclist in the FIM category.
After the ceremonial start at the Al-Maghawah National Park, competitors tackled a qualifying stage that was reduced from 18 km to just 3.91 km in length. Nineteen FIA cars, 31 motorcycles, four quads and 25 vehicles running in the Saudi National Baja were permitted to start.
Majed Al-Thunayyan and Yahya Ali Abdu were disqualified from the FIA event on the grounds that their cars failed stringent technical specifications. Maha Al-Hameli and Annie Seel also dropped out of the FIA event and moved their Team Black Horse Can-Am into the National Baja.
The seventh round of both the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas and the FIM Bajas World Cup, round three of the FIA Middle East Cup for Cross-Country Bajas, and the third event in the Saudi Toyota Rally Championship, is being organized by the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation in conjunction with the Ministry of Sport, and in partnership with Abdul Latif Jameel Motors.
On Friday, competitors will tackle a slightly revised stage of 229.52 km to the west and northwest of Hail, which will be split into two sections of 101.52 km and 128 km by a neutralization link.
The day’s selective section is named after the neighboring city of Jubbah that is situated 90 km northwest of Hail on the old caravan road between Najd and the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
The start of the Saudi Baja. (Supplied)
Saudi Baja 2022-Hail (positions after qualifying stage):
FIA
Yazeed Al-Rajhi (Saudi Arabia)/Dirk von Zitzewitz (Germany) Toyota Hilux Overdrive: 3:09.9
Cristiano de Sousa Batista (Brazil)/Fauto Mota (Portugal) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR (T4): 3:18.7
Miroslav Zapletal (Czech Republic)/Marek Sykora (Slovakia) Ford F150 Evo: 3:20.5
Fernando Alvarez (Spain)/Xavier Panseri (France) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T3): 3:21.3
Saleh Al-Saif (Saudi Arabia)/Tariq Al-Rammah (Saudi Arabia) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T3): 3:21.5
Egidijus Valeisa (Lithuania)/ Mindaugas Varza (Lithuania) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo (T4): 3:26.5
Aliyyah Koloc (UAE)/Stephane Duple (France) Buggyra Can-Am DV21 3:31.4
Hamed Al-Harbi (Saudi Arabia)/Dmytro Tsyro (Ukraine) Can-Am Maverick X3 (T3): 3:34.0
Kees Koolen (Netherlands)/Paolo Ceci (Italy) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo (T4): 3:34.1
Meshari Al-Thefiri (Kuwait)/Oriol Vidal (Spain) Can-Am Maverick XRS Turbo RR (T4): 3:34.2
T1 unless stated
FIM Bikes
Abdullah Abu Aishah (Jordan) KTM 450 Factory Rally: 3:33.0
Alex McInnes (Great Britain) Husqvarna FE 450: 3:37.7
Makis Rees-Stavros (Great Britain) KTM EXC F 450: 3:47.0
Mohammed Al-Balooshi (UAE) TM 450: 3:52.6
Salman Mohamed Farhan (Bahrain) Husqvarna FE 450: 3:59.6
Martin Chalmers (Qatar) Honda CRF 450: 4:01.4
Abdullah Al-Shatti (Kuwait) Kawasaki KC 450: 4:09.1
Ehab Ak-Hakeem (Saudi Arabia) Yamaha WR 450F: 4:15.7
Margot Llobera (Spain) KTM EXC 450: 4:21.1
Othman Al-Ghfeli (Saudi Arabia) Honda CRF 450: 4:21.8
FIM Quads
Abdulmajeed Al-Khulaifi (Saudi Arabia) Yamaha Raptor 700: 3:32.7
Abdulaziz Ahli (Saudi Arabia) Yamaha YFZ 450R: 3:41.2
Hani Al-Noumesi (Saudi Arabia) Yamaha Raptor 700: 4:11.4
Haitham Al-Tuwaijri (Saudi Arabia) Yamaha Raptor 700: 5:01.7