The Dakar Rally

oltman · 7 January 2026 13:31

From a group with guys on location (I think @Avatar invited me a few years ago ):

This graph tells the story of Henk Lategan’s dominance today.

Over 452 km of special stage, Henk didn’t just win Stage 3 in spectacular fashion — he took control of the Dakar overall lead. From the early kilometres onward, his pace was relentless and measured, steadily stretching the gap as others struggled to manage the complexity of the route.

Nasser Al-Attiyah followed him home in second on the stage and now sits second overall, while Marek Goczal, in the Ford Raptor, managed to cling to third overall despite an extremely tough day at the sharp end.

Today was brutal for those starting near the front.

This was a marathon stage split between bikes and cars, which meant no bike tracks in the sand for the cars to follow. Opening the stage became a massive disadvantage, especially through the sandy canyons and later on the open plateaux where wind and recent rain had erased many visual references.

Several high-profile crews paid the price early:

Mitchell Guthrie / Kellon Walch

Martin Prokop / Viktor Chytka

Guy Botterill / Oriol Mena

Lucas Moraes

Cristina Gutiérrez

Nani Roma

Carlos Sainz

Botterill actually overtook Prokop and Guthrie, but that move came at a cost — it put him directly into the role of stage opener, forcing him to navigate without references. The result was heavy time loss in the sand and on the plateaux. By the end of the day, Guy had lost nearly an hour, compounded by a 15-minute penalty.

At the front, however, Lategan was in a league of his own.

Stage 3 – Top 10 (Cars)

Henk Lategan / Brett Cummings – Toyota Gazoo Racing

Nasser Al-Attiyah / Fabian Lurquin – Dacia Sandriders

Marek Goczal / Maciej Marton – Energylandia

Eryk Goczal / Szymon Gospodarczyk – Energylandia

Sébastien Loeb / Fabian Boulanger – Dacia Sandriders

Michal Goczal / Diego Ortega – Energylandia

Toby Price / Alejandro Monleón – Toyota Gazoo Racing

Brian Baragwanath / Leonard Cremer – Century Racing

Saood Variawa / François Cazalet – Toyota Gazoo Racing SA

Mathieu Serradori / Loïc Minaudier – Century Racing

Just outside the top ten, Seth Quintero / Alex Short missed out by just 53 seconds, underlining how fine the margins were once the road opened and the navigation traps began to bite.

GregRedd · 7 January 2026 19:28

Dakar 2026 - Stage 4

Wednesday, 07 January
ALULA > ALULA (MARATHON) | Liaison > 78 km - Special > 417 km/452 km

Henk FTW!!!

Bikes

Strategy is a real factor in rally raids. The fear of getting stuck in a yo-yo dynamic is one of the things that keep elite riders awake at night, especially when the time comes to go all in for the title. Tosha Schareina, however, made a show of panache yesterday and today to claim back-to-back victories. Dakar riders who can win from the front of the field are few and far between. The Spaniard did it with a barnstorming performance that saw him alone at the front for half of the 417 km special en route to his fourth stage win in the event.
Schareina seized the overall lead to boot, although Ricky Brabec is inside the same second. The two Monster Energy Honda HRC leaders are in a dead heat after five days of racing. The Spaniard holds the lead by virtue of his better performance in today’s stage.
Skyler Howes, just 10 seconds back, made it a 1-2-3 for Honda and underscored the strength of the Japanese marque. On the flip side, Adrien Van Beveren conceded another 5 minutes and is now teetering on the edge of the top 10, a full 27′24″ behind Schareina.
Meanwhile, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing are biding their time. Daniel Sanders, fifth at 2′37″, and Edgar Canet, eighth at 3′49″, remain in contention for the overall, especially the man from Down Under, who is just 1′24″ behind Schareina and Brabec and will have a more favourable start position tomorrow.
The Rally2 class saw its top two riders tailspin out of the fight for the title. A broken wheel prevented Michael Docherty from reaching the bivouac-refuge. He will be slapped with a huge penalty. Meanwhile, Martim Ventura lost almost two hours due to mechanical problems. A podium finish is a long shot now. Their bad luck was a boon for the Dakar rookie Preston Campbell, the son of the American pioneer Johnny Campbell, who now leads the standings. Last but not least, Neels Theric opened his personal account with a stage win, also the first for the Chinese manufacturer Kove.

Cars

These are still early days, but Henk Lategan may have already taken his first step towards glory. Last year, he was locked in a high-stakes duel with Yazeed Al Rajhi until he faltered within sight of the line. The South African, knowing that the Dakar is an indomitable beast, decided to throw caution to the wind in a bid to break the vicious cycle of puncture after puncture. In the end, fortune favoured the bold, with Lategan driving his Toyota Hilux to his fifth career Dakar stage win, putting more than seven minutes into Nasser Al Attiyah and seizing the overall lead by 3′55″ over the Qatari.
Further back, the Goczał clan turned out in force, with the father, Marek, third at 14′15″, the son, Eryk, fourth at 17′36″, and the uncle, Michał, sixth at 19′53″.
The Poles will be delighted to have surrounded Sébastien Loeb, fifth at 17′54″. It is all starting to add up for the French driver, now eighth overall at 20 minutes, but he certainly has the skills to turn this around.
The Toyotas and Dacias are perched at the summit of the ranking, but the Ford Raptors remain within striking distance after making a splash yesterday, The American Mitch Guthrie flopped at the front of the field, haemorrhaging almost 44 minutes, but Mattias Ekström, third at 13′, and Carlos Sainz, fourth at 15′53″, are in a great position going into the latter half of the marathon-refuge stage, which they will begin in twelfth and thirteenth position.
It was the end of the road for the title holder in the Ultimate class, who had already delivered a subdued performance since the start of a Dakar, in which a question mark hung over his form. In the end, it was mechanical gremlins that did Yazeed Al Rajhi in as his Toyota Hilux gave up the ghost at km 234. The Saudi may resume the race after the marathon-refuge stage, but with no chance of fighting for the podium.

GregRedd · 8 January 2026 20:36

Dakar 2026 - Stage 5

Thursday, 08 January
BIVOUAC REFUGE > HAIL (MARATHON) | Liaison > 58 km - Special > 356 km / 371 km

It was already evident that Mitch Guthrie’s performances owed nothing to chance. The American driver today provided clear confirmation of his talent by winning a second stage of the Dakar Rally in the Ultimate class, two days after his first victory. After 371 kilometres against the clock, Guthrie junior completed the return leg of the marathon stage just four seconds behind Nani Roma but the Spaniard was hit with a one-minute speeding penalty. As a result, the two team-mates have flown the Ford flag high in the top two places, with another Raptor completing the day’s podium, driven by Martin Prokop, who is definitely improving with his change of vehicle this year.
Henk Lategan was confronted with a navigational challenge this morning on the second part of the marathon stage for which he opened the way without the tracks of the bikes. It was the trickiest task of the week for the South African but he finally accomplished it with a certain amount of efficiency: despite losing 12’43’’ on the way to Hail to Guthrie, the (very isolated) Toyota team leader has hung on to the lead in the overall rankings.
In a similar situation and hot on the heels of Lategan from the start, Nasser Al Attiyah also lost time in his Dacia but only 3’17’’ to the stage winner before a special tomorrow that is deemed to be crucial.

In the overall rankings, the insolent health of the Raptors was made especially clear, with four representatives in the top 6: Mattias Ekstrom 5’38’’ behind the leader, Nani Roma 6’59’’ down, Carlos Sainz trailing by 8’33’’ and Guthrie à 16’23’’ behind.
Nevertheless, the positions suggest a particularly open battle for the final special of the week, covering 300 kilometres of dunes. In 7th and 8th position in the overall rankings, the Dacias driven by Lucas Moraes (17’11’’ behind) and especially Sébastien Loeb (trailing by 17’55’’) are both capable of getting back into the game.

Top 10 Overall: Bikes

Top 10 Overall: Cars

Southern Africans’ Standings after Stage 5

GregRedd · 9 January 2026 19:36

Dakar 2026 - Stage 6

Friday, 09 January
HAIL > RIYADH | Liaison > 589 km - Special > 326 km

Sanders and Al Attiyah lead at the halfway point

Bikes

Daniel Sanders was on a roll on the first big sandy stage leading to Riyadh just before the rest day. Starting from Hail in third position, the defending champion swiftly caught Nacho Cornejo and then his teammate Luciano Benivades on his way to finishing the special stage alone and gobbling up a considerable chunk of the bonuses on offer to the opener (2’40’’), providing him with sufficient time to pull away in the overall rankings. However, the Australian, probably got carried away by his enthusiasm and neglected to respect a speed limit, which was a mistake that will cost him a six-minute penalty.
Although he was beaten on the tracks, Ricky Brabec will reap the rewards of his consistency at the highest level, both on the day and since the start in Yanbu. The American secured his 12th stage win on the Dakar and confirmed his status as Daniel Sanders’ biggest rival. The Monster Energy Honda HRC rider is aware of how far he still has to go to win a third title, as he is still 45 seconds behind the Australian leader, but remains the only Rally GP rider to have made no mistakes so far
The day before, it was Tosha Schareina’s turn to be penalised for a mistake. The Spaniard was unable to fully redeem himself, even though his starting position (as 5th rider to begin) gave him an opportunity to make up for it. In the end, the worst was avoided as Sanders was caught out by the speed cameras, but his initial battle plan did not include spending the rest day at the foot of the podium, 11’56’’ behind his major rival, though he is less than a minute behind Luciano Benavides in third place.
The Rally 2 class witnessed the return of Mike Docherty, after breaking his front wheel on stage four. The Emirati resident, who is a sand specialist, showed off his skills by beating all his rivals in the class and also taking overall 4th place in the stage rankings. The South African, who was heavily penalised two days ago (62 hours 30 minutes), no longer has any hope of triumph in the Rally 2 overall rankings, but is still determined to put on a show.

Cars

Some things occur with almost unfailing regularity. Nasser Al Attiyah’s stage victories are among them, like Japanese cherry trees in bloom in spring or the people of northern France heading to the French Riviera’s beaches when summer arrives. As regards the Qatari driver, his successes are even more predictable when a special takes place among the dunes, the terrain on which he has conquered his five titles on the Dakar. From the start in Hail this morning, the conditions were therefore right for Nasser to go on the attack, especially as he was the 15th driver to begin. At the finishing line, having shown the extent of his skill without overdoing it, he picked up his 49th stage on the Dakar to continue a series of 19 consecutive editions with a minimum of one special success to add to his roll of honour, including when he dropped out of the rally early. His performance today puts him at the top of the overall rankings on the rest day, after overtaking and then pulling away from Henk Lategan to leave the South African 6’10’’ behind.
As they reached the Saudi capital, this good news was accompanied by more for the Dacia team, which achieved its first one-two finish on the Dakar thanks to the second place obtained by Sébastien Loeb. His mission to climb back up the overall rankings is underway, albeit at a moderate pace, but the man from Alsace has still moved from 8th to 6th place, 17’36’’ behind Al Attiyah.
Behind Al Attiyah and Lategan, the top trio in the overall rankings is completed by Nani Roma, who has not enjoyed such success since 2019, at the end of the Dakar’s South American era. The Catalan driver, trailing the race leader by 9’13’’, finds himself as the leading representative of the Ford clan, who will be capable of exerting maximum pressure for the rest of the rally. Carlos Sainz in his Raptor is still in the reckoning for outright triumph, in 4th place 11’49’’ behind Al Attiyah, as is Mattias Ekstrom, occupying 5th, 12’11’’ behind the Qatari.

Overall Standings (Top 15) after Stage 6

GregRedd · 11 January 2026 19:04

Dakar 2026 - Stage 7

Sunday, 11 January
RIYADH > WADI AD DAWASIR | Liaison > 418 km - Special > 459 km

Bikes

You should never let opportunities get away, as Luciano Benavides knows all too well. The Argentinian let his flair do the talking in the special, which he started in sixth position, determined to make the most of the favourable terrain to stage a comeback. Benavides completed the rather fast course of the 459 km special in four hours, romping home with 4′47″ to spare over Edgar Canet and 4′57″ over Adrien Van Beveren, who delivered his finest performance since the start in Yanbu. The KTM rider is still third after his show of strength, but a mere 15 seconds from Ricky Brabec. This was his seventh Dakar stage win. Not bad at all.
The top 3 overall remains the same, with Daniel Sanders perched at the summit, but his third place today will put him at a disadvantage tomorrow compared to his closest pursuer, Ricky Brabec (+4′25″), who will start the next stage in tenth position, 21 minutes after the Australian. The Monster Energy Honda HRC is known for his strategic acumen and could turn the situation to his advantage.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing continue to hold the top spot, but the rally is still wide open despite Tosha Schareina losing some time today as the second rider on the road. The Spaniard hoovered up time bonuses for opening the way but lost time to the leader. He now stands just over 15 minutes back.
The Rally2 rider Michael Docherty continued to crash the RallyGP party and finished fifth overall in the stage to Wadi Ad-Dawasir, as well as picking up his fifth stage win of the season in his class. It is a decent consolation prize after the first marathon stage wrecked his overall prospects.

Cars

Oodles of talent, metronomic consistency and a pinch of good luck make up the recipe for Dakar success. Whether he can contend for the title in the six remaining stages or not, Mattias Ekström proved again today that he has all the necessary ingredients. The Swede claimed his seventh Dakar stage win, leaving João Ferreira and Mitch Guthrie 4′27″ and 4′55″ behind. He has never been too far from the lead since the rally began in Yanbu. Today, everything fell into place for him to move up another level in the provisional standings, where he now trails Nasser Al Attiyah by 4′47″.
As a five-time winner of the race, the leader has many cards to play. It was not raw speed that did the trick for him, as he only finished eleventh; rather, the top Dacia Sandrider driver saw the wind that sweeps Wadi ad-Dawasir turn in his favour. His closest rival, Henk Lategan, was on the verge of wresting the overall lead from him for the vast majority of the stage, setting the scene for a vicious duel between the Hilux and the Sandrider, when disaster struck at km 428 and the South African had to stop for almost ten minutes. It was enough for him to lose the stage win and fall outside the provisional podium (fourth at 7′21″). Al Attiyah can rest a bit easier.
Mattias Ekström was far from the only Ford Raptor driver in top form. Nani Roma did everything that was expected from him and then some more. The Catalan retained third place overall after Lategan ran into trouble. Roma even cut his deficit to Al Attiyah by about one minute to 7′15″. Unlike his teammate, he will have a great start position in the longest special of the 2026 Dakar tomorrow.

GregRedd · 12 January 2026 18:35

Dakar 2026 - Stage 8

Monday, 12 January
WADI AD DAWASIR > WADI AD DAWASIR | Liaison > 418 km - Special > 459 km

BIKES | COULD IT BE BENAVIDES THIS YEAR?

It is necessary to take a brief look back to just ten days ago. In the pre-race predictions, most observers logically expected a duel between Daniel Sanders and Tosha Schareina, the two riders who clearly dominated the entire 2025 season. Luciano Benavides’ name was mentioned among the outsiders. Sometimes, the outsiders come to the fore and this is what may well be happening now, thanks to another magic day from the Argentinean, who last year showed that he was capable of winning when opening the way and who today repeated this feat on the fortnight’s longest stage. On completion of a faultless solo 483-km adventure, he gobbled up all the bonuses on offer (7’28’’), won his third stage of the 2026 edition and took the lead in the overall rankings, 10’’ ahead of his Australian team-mate, showing he has moved up a grade.
Of course, the gaps apparent in the overall rankings do not indicate that he has a clear path to Yanbu. The number 1, with the day’s second time and a tiny deficit, still has the right to remain confident. Though behind Sanders, the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team riders will still be wary of the threat posed by the Monster Energy Honda HRC squad, particularly from Ricky Brabec, of course, 4’47’’ behind the Argentinean leader on the 3rd step of the provisional podium, and possibly from Tosha Schareina, in 4th position but not totally out of the game in spite of a 20-minute deficit.
In the Rally 2 class, Mike Docherty’s misfortunes, probably the result of a crash at the very end of the special, benefited Neels Theric, who was the fastest in the class for the third time this year behind the handlebars of his Kove. In the overall rankings, American Preston Campbell remains in the lead, but his advantage has been reduced by two minutes by Toni Mulec, who is now 9’36’’ behind.

AUTOS I VARIAWA BY JUST THREE SECONDS!

SA DOUBLE STAGE PODIUM!

A 20-year-old young man has won in the premium category of the Dakar and it is not even a surprise! Rally-raid aficionados have become used to the exploits of Saood Variawa, especially since last year when he became the youngest winner in the history of the Dakar in the car category. Today, he pulled off a spectacular ascent of the leader board having been the 26th driver to start the special, making progress as the day went on at each of the different time checkpoints until he snatched victory by just 3 seconds, to take success from another Toyota Hilux, driven by his countryman Henk Lategan. On what turned out to be a fast route, the time gaps turned out to be negligible, with seven vehicles within two minutes, meaning to win there was little margin for error.
Consequently, the drivers out to hunt had no time to lose. Of course, the Dakar first and foremost requires good management to go the distance. Indeed, the mantra that “the main thing is to stay on the right track” is still perfectly relevant. However, the minute won today by Henk Lategan over Nasser Al Attiyah may well prove very useful to the South African when the final reckoning comes. He achieved the second-best time on the loop around Wadi ad Dawasir on the longest special of this year’s Dakar. The advantage is not considerable and his Toyota Hilux will not be in the best position when starting the second marathon-refuge stage tomorrow in second place, without the tracks of the bikes. However, he has nonetheless moved past Nani Roma in the overall rankings to take a place on the provisional podium, 6’08’’ behind the leader, which is something, at least.
Behind the two South Africans, the day’s podium was completed by Mattias Ekstrom (29’’ behind the winner), who has strengthened his second place in the overall rankings thanks to perfect consistency behind the wheel of his Ford Raptor. The Swedish driver now lies 4’ behind Nasser Al Attiyah but will probably not have the opportunity to continue catching up when he sets off tomorrow morning on the way to the bivouac-refuge.
At the end of stage 8, the gap between the top 5 drivers is even smaller than it was on the rest day! The third best placed Raptor, driven by Carlos Sainz, is timed at 10’39’’ down on the leader. Meanwhile, Sébastien Loeb, in 6th place, is still within 17 minutes of his Qatari colleague on the Dacia team

GregRedd · 13 January 2026 18:54

Dakar 2026 - Stage 9

Tuesday, 13 January
WADI AD DAWASIR > MARATHON BIVOUAC | Liaison > 123 km - Special > 418 / 410 km

Marathon 2, Part 1

The FIM and FIA routes are different today, allowing the cars to finish earlier while putting navigation to the fore for the four-wheelers. It is not the day’s only special feature: this evening, the competitors will sleep at a small bivouac in the middle of the desert, with a reduced presence and in minimalist conditions (with tents, mattresses, sleeping bags and military rations). They will be able to make repairs all night but will not be able to contact their mechanics and assistance teams, who will already be on the way to the following bivouac in Bisha.

BIKES | SCHAREINA: OH, WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN…

The competitors do not approach the marathon-refuge stages like the others and the one that set out this morning from Wadi ad Dawasir included navigational difficulties that soon changed the face of the special for the main protagonists over the last days. Benavides’ wonderful adventure is perhaps not over but his stay at the top of the overall rankings has been interrupted at the very least. The major blow today was struck by Tosha Schareina, who was the smartest at the start of the special in choosing the right canyon at a point where his rivals selected the wrong option, and was especially the quickest at the very end of the stage, which he completed with the best time: 6’24’’ quicker than Daniel Sanders, and 6’22’’ in front of his Honda team-mate Ricky Brabec.
The Spanish rider, who is still fourth in the overall rankings but with a gap reduced to 15 minutes form the top, can continue to kick himself over the ten-minute penalty he received on the first marathon stage, without which he would be locked in the duel with Daniel Sanders that everyone was expecting. The defending champion is the main beneficiary of the day, as the confusion shared with his teammate Luciano Benavides meant he loses a little less time.
The Australian KTM rider has, as a result, regained the lead in the overall rankings, where he now has a 6’24’’ advantage over his American rival Ricky Brabec. However, this margin is not particularly comfortable ahead of the second leg of the marathon-refuge stage, on which the Honda rider will start three minutes behind him and where the route including challenging dunes may hold some surprises in store.

CARS: IT’S A FAMILY AFFAIR FOR THE GOCZALS

Though rally aficionados have become accustomed to their spectacular performances, today’s accomplishment stands out as the best of their careers on the Dakar. Eryk Goczal impressed on his debut in 2023, winning four stages and the SSV category at the tender age of 18 years old. This year, he secured his first stage victory on his debut in the Ultimate class. The young Polish man is never short of predictions regarding his family’s destiny in the Dakar rankings. Today, his father was not there to accompany him but his uncle Michal clocked the second fastest time on the special.
The overall rankings were completely shaken up on completion of stage 9, with the resulting gaps not amounting to much at all. Nani Roma returned to the top spot, which he had not held since his triumph in 2014. However, a battle of nerves is brewing in the minds of the three most experienced drivers in the elite group. Three former winners make up the podium, as the Catalan prepares to take on his team-mate from Madrid Carlos Sainz, who is 57 seconds behind him, in a ‘Clasico’.
Also, with just four stages to go, it is definitely not inconceivable for Nasser Al Attiyah, dethroned from the top of the pile but only 1’10’’ behind the new leader, to make a comeback in his Dacia Sandrider tomorrow.
The race hierarchy remains as open as ever so close to the rally’s finale. However, while they are not completely out of the running, two of the day’s losers can be clearly identified. Henk Lategan owes his survival in the top four (occupying 4th place, 6’13’’ behind) to the pit stop that was set up after 183 km, where he was able to have his power steering repaired, but this 14-minute stop cost him his place on the provisional podium. The fall from grace was even more damaging for Mattias Ekstrom, who left Wadi in 2nd place in the overall rankings but will sleep in his tent tonight in 5th place, 11’19’’ behind the new leader after a major navigation error.