Niterra-backed Yazeed Racing wins the 2025 Dakar Rally

So it was with great excitement that the company got to see their sponsored team, Yazeed Racing, piloted by Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk, cross the chequered flag as victors in this year’s Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia, after a gruelling 14 days and 4,906 kilometres. In an event that many were calling the toughest in the rally’s history, drivers and navigators had to pass through canyons, dried-up river beds, and sand dunes and endure baking desert temperatures in an unrelenting push for the finish line.

For Timo, it was the second Dakar victory in his career, but for Yazeed it was his first. Not only that, but as a Saudi Arabian national, he became only the second contestant ever to win the race at home, the last being Frenchman Pierre Lartigue, who won the Paris-Dakar-Paris over 30 years ago in 1994.
 

“I am very happy to win the Dakar in my home country on home soil. It was a very special moment for me and I guess I made the whole of Saudi Arabia proud”, Yazeed said.

A fight to the end in an extremely demanding race

Early on in the rally, it quickly became a gripping duel between Yazeed, Timo and two rivals, the South Africans Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings, also piloting a Toyota vehicle. Just 230 kilometres from the chequered flag, Timo and Yazeed took the lead and managed to clinch an exciting victory. “We had to be clever and keep the gap to them as close as possible. We planned the days where we had to attack and also where we should back off a bit. At the end we managed the lead with just a small time gap”, team Yazeed said.

Indeed, tactics seem to have played a key role in their success. “It’s not always about being the fastest on the stages, sometimes you need to use tactics to gain a good starting position for the next day”, they added. The use of strategy was made even more important due to the extreme demands of this year’s race.

“For me, it was Dakar No. 17 and the hardest one I can remember. It was long, demanding and tricky all round”, Timo said. “Yes, it was a very hard one with many long and difficult stages. It was difficult in terms of driving and navigation, with lots of hard terrain and demanding dunes until the very end”, Yazeed added.

The right vehicle fitted with the best components

As in any sport, equipment plays a central role. Timo and Yazeed have had a long-standing relationship with the Toyota Hilux T1+ pickup truck that is ideal for tough terrain. Prepared by Team Overdrive, the 4-wheel-drive car is fitted with a powerful V6 turbocharged engine, making it the ideal vehicle to navigate the sand dunes of Saudi Arabia. But any engine is only as good as the components within and both Timo and Yazeed are keen to point out the value of relying on NGK ignition technology. “We race a lot of miles every day without our service team, so it is very important to have items you can rely on in the car, and the brand NGK offers the perfect ignition parts for racing”, Timo says. Likewise, the two racers are quick to credit a big element of their success to those working behind the scenes in a support role, particularly the mechanics. “One thing is for sure - without good mechanics, you can’t win a Dakar or any other race. They are a big factor in success. They work the whole night to give you a perfectly prepared car every morning”, the two said.
 

No time to rest

Despite their stunning win, both Timo and Yazeed have little time to pause and enjoy their victory. With no less than 14 rally events a year on average, the duo’s attention is already turning to the rest of the FIA Cross-Country World Rally Championship (W2RC), of which the Dakar Rally is the first event of the year. Already ahead in WRC points, the two are looking forward to The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge at the end of February, to be followed by the Rally South Africa in May, the Rally Portugal in September and the Rally Morocco in mid-October.

Asked about a defence of the Dakar title next year, the two seem upbeat about their chances: “To defend a victory always brings pressure, but at the same time you are relaxed because you did it once and you know everything works, so you can do it again”.

And as far as special preparation for the next Dakar Rally goes, the team simply says “After the Dakar is before the Dakar”, or put more simply, everything they do each season is preparation for the next Dakar Rally!