TABUK: Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi and German co-driver Timo Gottschalk stormed into a comfortable 19 min 28 sec lead after the opening 205 km stage of the Tabuk-Neom Rally on Friday.
The Toyota Hilux crew carded a time of 1 hr 58 min and 57 sec for the scenic passage through desert terrain without hitting any problems during the course of the morning.
Al-Rajhi said: “It was a good day and everything is going well. Timo did a great job, like always. We opened the stage and enjoyed it.
We pushed because we want to win every stage after I missed the event in Hail when I was injured. It was fast and slippery in places.” Emirati rider Mohammed Al-Balooshi got the better of his brother Sultan to win the motorcycle stage by 3 min 4 sec and open up a lead of 1 min 52 sec.