2026 Dakar Rally

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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...

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

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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

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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

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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.