TOYOTA Gazoo Racing World Rally Team has started the inaugural Rally Saudi Arabia – the last and deciding round of the 2025 FIA World Rally Championship – with a spectacular super special stage in host city Jeddah.

While the short spectator-friendly asphalt stage opened the competitive action, it is the gravel tracks in the mountains and deserts surrounding Jeddah that will likely decide which of TGR-WRT trio Elfyn Evans, Sébastien Ogier and Kalle Rovanperä will be crowned drivers’ world champion.

After reconnaissance from Sunday to Tuesday, where drivers discovered the stages for the first time and made their pacenotes, the action started on Wednesday morning with the pre-event shakedown and a first chance for the Rally1 drivers to sample Saudi roads at speed.

Rovanperä set the fastest time after completing two runs, ahead of his team-mates Takamoto Katsuta and Evans.

Evans and Ogier competed side-by-side in the opening 5.22-kilometre super special adjacent to the service park, with Ogier setting the second fastest time overall – 1.2 seconds from the leader – and Evans just 0.9s further back in fifth.

Rovanperä and Sami Pajari completed the top seven with Takamoto Katsuta ninth, within 3.6s of the lead.

Dolgellau’s Evans said: “It’s good to get the rally started tonight after what’s been a busy week already, getting all the pacenotes written and trying to get them right.

“The stages are definitely challenging with quite a lot of rocks about and very little margin for error, and it looks from the first pass of shakedown like the grip level is going to be pretty low.

“I’m sure the road will evolve as more cars pass, so it won’t be easy for us from first on the road tomorrow.

“But it’s all very open, anything can happen, and we will just focus on our job like on any other rally and see what happens.”