The Saudi Toyota Championship continues with the Qassim Rally on October 23 to 26 TABUK: Saudi driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi and his German co-driver Timo Gottschalk cruised to an emphatic victory in the Tabuk Toyota Rally and the Saudi extended his lead in the 2024 Saudi Toyota Championship on Saturday. For the latest updates, follow us @ArabNewsSport The Overdrive Racing Toyota Hilux drivers suffered no issues on the final 168km selective section and secured a winning margin of 16 minutes 37 seconds. “It was good for us,” said Al-Rajhi. “It was not easy, very tricky actually. We have good stages in Saudi now. Before it was flat, flat and now it is more technical with good navigation and you need to focus all the time. Now we look ahead to Baja Greece.” Dania Akeel and Stephane Duple continued to flourish in the Ultimate category with the second of the Toyota Hiluxes and finished second overall, despite getting lost on the stage for several minutes. “We had a good day except we lost around four minutes in navigation, that is part of the game,” Akeel said. “Other than that, we had a good day. The stage was narrow and quite twisty and that was good for me to get used to the car, I would love to race this car every day. We will see, I want to develop as a driver as much as I can.” Saleh Al-Saif and Qatari co-driver Nasser Al-Kuwari rounded off the podium places and topped the Challenger standings in their Dark Horse OT3. MX Ride Dubai’s Mohammed Al-Balooshi continued his superb run of form in Middle East regional events with the fastest time on the final stage that confirmed another victory for the Emirati on his Husqvarna. He beat local KTM rider Abdulhalim Al-Mogheera by nearly 15 minutes on the final stage to snatch the win by 27 minutes 45 seconds, his cause helped still further when the Saudi incurred a time penalty. “I’m really happy, so pumped with this win. I know the task was to open and full attack. The task was difficult and not impossible,” Al-Balooshi said. “I really put my head down, stayed focused and I needed more than two minutes, I got a lot more that that. I am really happy to defend this title in Tabuk, I really like all the races in Saudi Arabia. Abdulhalim (Mogheera) really kept me on my toes. He is progressing well.” There was a nail-biting finish to the battle in the quads with Haitham Al-Tuwaijri managing to snatch the victory on his Yamaha Raptor from rivals Hani Al-Noumesi and Abdulaziz Al-Shayban. The Saudi’s winning margin was just 25 seconds. The Saudi Toyota Championship continues with the Qassim Rally on October 23 to 26.