Praise for Al Rajhi from team boss van Dalen

Kronos Racing head Marc van Dalen has praised driver Yazeed Al Rajhi following the Saudi driver’s run to 14th overall on Tour de Corse-E.Leclerc earlier this month.

Al Rajhi had only tackled two sealed-surface rallies before making his Tour de Corse debut at the wheel of a Peugeot 207 Super 2000.

“He was very surprised to be four seconds per kilometre slower at first and couldn’t understand why,” said van Dalen. “But I told him the level in the IRC is very high with lots of experienced drivers and Tarmac specialists. After that he started to learn slowly and improved on each stage and realised the best option was to be at the end of the rally.”

Al Rajhi said: “My last time on Tarmac was in 2009 so I was in Corsica to learn. My next IRC rally will be in Madeira where I hope to improve some more.”