Jeddah Rally: Al-Rajhi leads the preliminary round... and Al-Attiyah comes second

On Thursday, Saudi driver Yazid Al Rajhi topped the preliminary stage of the 2026 Baja Jeddah Rally, the second round of the Saudi Baja Championship, after recording the fastest time in the 10-kilometre stage, while Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah came second, and Saleh Al-Saif third.

Al Rajhi recorded a time of 8 minutes and 26 seconds, ahead of Al-Attiyah by 22 seconds and two hundredths of a second, while Al Saif came third, one minute and 25 seconds and 7 hundredths of a second behind the leader.

Prince Saud bin Abdullah bin Jalawi, Governor of Jeddah, gave the official start signal for the rally on Thursday evening, in the presence of Prince Khalid bin Sultan Al-Faisal, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation, and the Saudi Motor Sports Company, and the participation of drivers and navigators competing in various categories.

In the “Ultimate” category, Ahmed Al-Shammari achieved the fastest time of 11 minutes, 25 seconds and 7 hundredths of a second, while Eyada Al-Shammari came third. In the “Stoke” category, Muhammad Asiri topped the rankings with a time of 11 minutes, 53 seconds and 3 hundredths of a second, and Salem Al-Quraini came second.

In the Challenger category, Saleh Al-Saif topped the standings with a time of 9 minutes, 51 seconds and 7 hundredths of a second, followed by Dania Aqeel in second place.

In the “Side by Side” category, Maha Al-Hamali won first place with a time of 12 minutes, two seconds and 8 hundredths of a second, Mashael Al-Huwaish came second, and Abdullah Al-Zahrani third.

In the motorcycle competitions, Emirati Mohammed Al Balushi topped the preliminary stage with a time of 10 minutes, 20 seconds and two hundredths of a second, ahead of his compatriot Sultan Al Balushi, while Dominic Wales came third.

In the Quads category, Haitham Al-Tuwaijri achieved first place with a time of 10 minutes, 54 seconds and 5 hundredths of a second, Bader Al-Hamdan came second, and Abdul Rahman Al-Abdul Latif third.

The results of the preliminary stage give those in the first ten places the right to choose their starting positions in the first stage, provided that the official starting list is published at ten in the evening.

The rally competitions will continue on Friday with the first special stage for a distance of 217 km, where the cars will depart from the maintenance area at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit at 7:30 am, and the timed competitions begin at 9 am.

The competitions will conclude on Saturday with the second and final special stage for a distance of 104 kilometers, where the cars will leave the maintenance area at 7:30 in the morning, and the special stage will begin at 10:50 in the morning, with a ceremony for crowning the winners in the various categories being held at 6:00 p.m.

Ali Lagami, defender of the Saudi national team, said that the Al-Akhdar technical staff focused during the Doha camp on addressing the errors that appeared in the Gulf Cup tournament, “Gulf 27,” indicating that the team is looking forward to achieving victory in the friendly matches against South Korea and Uzbekistan, which will contribute to improving its position in the international rankings.

Lagami said, in an exclusive interview with Asharq Al-Awsat: We focused during the camp on correcting the mistakes we made in the Gulf Cup, and we enter the two matches with the aim of achieving victory and improving our international ranking, and we hope that God will help us in that.

Regarding the importance of facing two teams representing two different schools of Asian football, and their speed and physical strength, the “Green” defender explained that such matches give the players an additional incentive to perform at better levels.

He added: Certainly, facing South Korea and Uzbekistan gives us greater motivation to perform well, and we look forward to winning both matches.