Timo Gottschalk triumphs at the Dakar rally despite tire problems!

Timo Gottschalk triumphs at the Dakar rally despite tire problems!

In a gripping race for first place, the duo Yazeed Al Rajhi and his navigator Timo Gottschalk triumphed on the fourth stage of the Dakar 2025 rally. Despite three tire breakdowns, they triumphed over 415 kilometers from Al-Henakiyah to Al-'ula on Wednesday and secured the day's victory. In the overall ranking, they climbed to second place, only 6:54 minutes behind the leading Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings from South Africa, such as rbb24 reported. Gottschalk described the stage as extremely challenging, where he hardly had time to drink during the race because he had to communicate a lot.

royal stage and marathon challenge

The Dakar rally is known for its demanding stages, and the second stage was no exception. This marathon stage over two days required an intensive performance from the drivers and navigators. Al Rajhi and Gottschalk dominated the route with a total time of 10:54:54 hours, which secured the overall victory in this stage. Nasser al-Atiyah followed in second place with a gap of 4:29 minutes, while Gottschalk and Al Rajhi were able to demonstrate their impressive performance with perfect navigation during the demanding conditions, such as Motorsport-Magazin reported.

The competition not only demands everything physically, but also mentally. After all, they had to navigate under extreme conditions and on stony terrain, where tire breakdowns were risky. Despite these challenges, Al Rajhi and Gottschalk dealt with remarkable performance for the following stages of the rally, which will continue on Thursday by Al-'ula to Hail. The Dakar rally, which has been held in Saudi Arabia since 2020, ends on January 17th in Shaybah.

rbb24