Timo Gottschalk triumphs at Rallye Dakar despite tire problems!

Timo Gottschalk triumphs at Rallye Dakar despite tire problems!

The Rallye Dakar 2025 is once more an incredible adventure of the extreme and challenges. On the royal stage over 967 kilometers between Al-Henakiyah and Al-'ula, the duo Yazeed al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk triumphed. Despite three tire damage, they mastered the difficult terrain after 10:54:54 hours and secured the day's victory. For Al-Rajhi, this means the eighth stage since 2015, while Gottschalk with his Saudi Arabic driver moved to second place in the overall ranking after a challenging stage, only 6:54 minutes behind the overall leading, Henk Lategan, who drives together with Brett Cummings in the Toyota, such as rbb24 reported .

The conditions during this legendary rally are relentless. On Wednesday, Gottschalk showed how extremely challenging the stage was when he informed: "I only managed to drink something three times because I had to make so many announcements." The early start and the happy navigation through the tricky canyons cleaned the way for victory, even if, as is so often the case, it is associated with enormous efforts and exertion. Another German team, which is led by Dirk von Zitzewitz and Giniel de Villiers, experienced Pech and only ended up in twelfth place, also because of technical problems with their impact screws, which cost valuable time, how Motorsport-Magazin reported.

preparations for the next stage

The rally is known for its unpredictable twists and continues on Thursday with the fifth stage from Al-'ula to Hail. The DAKAR challenge is in full swing and numerous drivers are faced with the task of increasing their performance under extreme conditions, while they have to face the problems of the route at the same time. At the end of the rally, the rating will decide who can prevail in this bitter competition.