JEDDAH: Yazeed Al-Rajhi has retained his Saudi Toyota Desert Rally Championship title after finishing first on all selective stages of Rally Jeddah.
Saudi Champion, Al-Rajhi, dominated all of the selective sections aboard his Toyota Hilux accompanied by co-driver Dirk von Zitziwitz.
Von Zitziwitz has been in the co-driver’s seat since the Aseer Rally, replacing Michael Orr. Orr was injured in Baja Poland and is still recovering.
A whole range of challenges faced Al-Rajhi and his co-driver throughout the season and he thanked Dirk von Zitziwitz for his outstanding efforts, as well as Abdul Latif Jameel, the distributor for Toyota Motor Corporation products in Saudi Arabia, for his unreserved support at the international and regional rallies.
Al-Rajhi expressed his happiness with this achievement and said: “By the grace and praise of God, we were able to snatch the title of the Saudi Toyota Championship for the second time, and this time in Jeddah, which hosted the season finale.”
“In fact, we spent three wonderful days and enjoyed the rally and the varied track layout between open tracks, gravel, and dunes, and this is something that makes us proud of the diverse terrain of our country, which has become more famous around the world through the media since hosting the first edition of the famous Dakar Rally in 2020.”
“Everything happened beautifully. We won the Saudi Rally Championship and finished the season in the most efficient possible way. I won the Jeddah Rally for the third time in my career and the first time in a Toyota Hilux. We also won all the special stages of all rounds of the Saudi Championship.
“Today, I feel very proud of the achievements I am making for my country.
“In the 2019 season, when I competed in the first edition of the Saudi Toyota Championship, I won its title with Michael Orr, and today I won with Dirk von Zitziwitz, and Dirk performed amazingly in this task and the whole season. The victory was ours from day one.”