Brandenburg co-pilot Gottschalk shines at Dakkar king's stage!

Brandenburg co-pilot Gottschalk shines at Dakkar king's stage!

The Dakar Rally 2025 ensures exciting moments in the desert of Saudi Arabia. The Brandenburg co-pilot Timo Gottschalk and his driver Yazeed al-Rajhi sensationally won the royal stage and thus climbed in second place in the overall ranking. The two needed less than eleven hours for the 967 kilometer 48-hour stage, which included a nightly bivouac. With a deficit of only 4:45 minutes on the overall Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings from South Africa (both Toyota), Gottschalk and Al-Rajhi are now in a promising position. Gottschalk commented relieved: "We did really well on this stage." Despite technical difficulties, such as oil loss and a defective belt drive, they mastered the challenge of how well their team works. For other favorites, on the other hand, things went less well: defending champion Carlos Sainz lost over an hour and a half after he was accident

Sanders shines at the marathon stage

There is also reason to be happy in the motorcycle class. KTM driver Daniel Sanders achieved his third stage victory in a row, which has not been a Dakar pilot since 2017. Starting as the 20th driver, Sanders fought his way through during the 48-hour marathon stage and was the fastest in the end with a time of 11:12:13 hours. Sanders secured the stage victory with 6:45 minutes ahead of Adrien van Beveren. The strong performance of the other two favorites, Ross Branch and Ricky Brabec, gave way to disappointment because they ended up in places five and eight and thus fall behind Sanders. The next stage leads the drivers from Bisha in the northeast of Saudi Arabia to Al Henakiyah, where another 495 kilometers are valued.

The DAKAKE 2025 rally is still a spectacle of strengths and weaknesses, where technical challenges and outstanding achievements are in competition. The rally ends on January 17th in Shaybah, an oil field in the east of Saudi Arabia. The possibility of further improving in the overall ranking remains exciting for both the automotive and motorcyclists.