2026 Dakar Rally

He is confirmed being out of Dakar. Without getting into details, I read from reports he's in critical conditions. One can only hope he'll be able to survive and eventually recover...

Ekstrom won the prologue. Tomorrow the first stage of 300 Km.

Guillaume De Mevius (Mini X-Raid) won the first stage. Very close gaps, 20 drivers in 10 minutes. Al Rajhi picked up a penalty and finished 28 minutes behind De Mevius. 2 of the 3 works Land Rover Defender (Peterhansel and Price) already in trouble.

Top 10:
1 - Guillaume De Mevius (Mini X-Raid)
2 - Nasser Al Attiyah (Dacia) +40s
3 - Martin Prokop (Ford Jipocar) +1m 27s
4 - Mattias Ekstrom (Ford M-Sport) +1m 38s
4 - Marek Goczal (Toyota Energylandia) +1m 38s
6 - Carlos Sainz (Ford M-Sport) +1m 54s
7 - Guy Botterill (Toyota SA/SVR) +2m 03s
8 - Nani Roma (Ford M-Sport) +2m 37s
9 - Mitch Guthrie (Ford M-Sport) +2m 50s
10 - Sebastien Loeb (Dacia) +3m 01s

Stage 2 won by Seth Quintero and dominated by Toyota, but Nasser takes the lead. Still very small gaps.

Top 5:
1 - Nasser Al Attiyah (Dacia)
2 - Seth Quintero (Toyota) +7s
3 - Guillaume De Mevius (Mini X-Raid) +1m 09s
4 - Henk Lategan (Toyota) +1m 28s
5 - Sebastien Loeb (Dacia) +1m 57s

Many up and downs in Dakar standing each stage, according to which car is best suited. Seems like the Ford Ranger really likes rocky stages, top 5 is all made by Ford, 4 works cars + Prokop in 2nd, while Guthrie is the leader. Gaps are still rather small.

Most Toyota and Dacia lost time. Nasser, Lategan and Loeb are 10th, 11th and 12th, 12-17 minutes behind the lead. Nasser and Loeb had punctures early on and slowed down a lot when they had no spares, saying the Sandrider doesn't suit this rocky stage.

Big losses for Quintero (1 hour) and De Mevius (2 hours), which also basically ends any chance Mini had this year.

Halfway through Dakar. Top 10 drivers are within 30 minutes gap.

1 - Nasser Al Attiyah (Dacia)
2 - Henk Lategan (Toyota GR) +6m 10s
3 - Nani Roma (Ford M-Sport) +9m 13s
4 - Carlos Sainz (Ford M-Sport) +11m 49s
5 - Mattias Ekstrom (Ford M-Sport) +12m 11s
6 - Sebastien Loeb (Dacia) +17m 36s
7 - Mitchell Guthrie (Ford M-Sport) +21m 49s
8 - Mathieu Serradori (Century) +23m 29s
9 - Eryk Goczal (Toyota Energylandia) +24m 40s
10 - Lucas Moraes (Dacia) +26m 46s

Loeb said his priority was having a consistent Dakar without reliability issues. But even if he pushes more towards the end, 17 minutes from Nasser might be too much to recover on speed alone.

Bikes after stage 6:

1. AUS Daniel Sanders (KTM), 24:41'
2. USA Ricky Brabec (Honda), + 0'45 (!!!)
3. ARG Luciano Benavides (KTM), + 10'
4. ESP Tosha Schareina (Honda), + 12'
5. CHI Ignacio Cornejo (Hero), + 30'
6. USA Skyler Howes (Honda), + 32'

T3 Challenger after stage 6:

1. ESP Pau Navarro (Taurus), 26:46'
2. ARG Nico Cavigliasso (Taurus), + 5'
3. CHI Lucas del Rio (Can-Am), + 26'
4. SAU Yasir Seaidan (Taurus), + 45'
5. ARG David Zille (Taurus), + 1:23'
6. NED Puck Klaassen (GRallyTeam), + 1:39'

T4 SSV after stage 6:

1. USA Brock Heger (Polaris), 26:56'
2. FRA Xavier de Soultrait (Polaris), + 32'
3. USA Kyle Chaney (Can-Am), + 53'
4. POR Joao Monteiro (Can-Am), + 58'
5. POR Gonçalo Guerreiro (Polaris), + 1:16'
6. CHI Francisco López (Can-Am), + 1:44'

This year's Dakar has very small gaps. It seems like it's not as car breaking as the other years.

After 7 stages in Dakar 2026: 16 drivers within 1 hour from the lead. 10th place at +25m 25s
After 7 stages in Dakar 2025: 6 drivers within 1 hour from the lead. 10th place at +2h 07m 38s

Tomorrow and the day after it's a marathon stage. Last chance for Loeb to close on the lead in my opinion.

Chances over for Loeb, most likely. He was doing good on today's stage, ahead of all his main competitors but then the power steering failed, making him lose around 15 minutes. He remains 6th, 21 minutes down.

Nani Roma leads, Carlos Sainz is 2nd (+57s), Nasser is 3rd (+1m 10s)