The 2026 Dakar Rally is just around the corner and promises to be one of the most demanding and competitive editions in history.
We've prepared this comprehensive guide so you know all the details before the world's toughest race gets underway.
Among the main changes, the 48-hour stage has been eliminated and replaced with two marathon stages, held midway through each week.
In these stages, participants will have to repair their vehicles using only what they have on board and spend the night without external assistance, testing their strategy, reliability, and human endurance.
https://youtu.be/hoqmrd0CxRM

So far we been talking the talk, in just a few hours it is for the racers and their machines to walk the walk!

The 48th edition of the Dakar has set a date for the world's rally-raiders in Saudi Arabia from 3 to 17 January.
https://youtu.be/bk3jAZYN5RM

Extended highlights prologue.
Across the desert Dakar 2026 will deliver a demanding route with dunes navigation and endurance staying true to the spirit of the most legendary rally raid event.
https://youtu.be/MYzXC4vrpMQ?si=WRuzyh0uHJFd1D7_

Today's prologue stage was fast and short with top racers Edgar Canet and Daniel Sanders of the Red Bull KTM Factory Team setting the pace.
Canet, the 20-year-old Catalan rider set a new Dakar record as the youngest racer to win an official stage today.
Sanders, the defending Dakar and W2RC World Champion held off American Ricky Brabec on the Monster Energy Honda HRC team by two seconds to finish runner-up.
Brabec enjoyed one of his finest prologue starts to Dakar in third.
https://youtu.be/_UPK8D1SgOs

Edgar Canet continued his impressive run at the Dakar Rally, backing up his prologue victory in Yanbu with a commanding performance on Stage 1.
Making his debut in the RallyGP class, the young Spaniard and reigning Rally2 champion put in a polished ride aboard his Red Bull KTM to claim the stage win over teammate Daniel Sanders by 1m02s and extend his advantage in the overall standings to 1m05s.
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X-raid Mini’s Guillaume de Mevius topped the opening stage of the Dakar Rally on Sunday, overhauling long-time leader Mattias Ekstrom in a dramatic late turnaround.
Ford driver Ekstrom controlled much of the day’s 305km stage around Yanbu in Saudi Arabia, grabbing the lead at the second checkpoint on 70km before stretching out an advantage of over a minute in his Ford Raptor.

However, the complexion of the stage changed in the final 45km stretch, which featured a mix of dunes, sand and rocky terrain, with Ekstrom rapidly dropping down the order.
https://youtu.be/59hHeXVMF1c

Defending champion Daniel Sanders wasted little time reasserting himself at the Dakar Rally, claiming victory on Stage 2 in AlUla to move back into control of the event. The Australian delivered a measured but authoritative ride aboard his KTM to secure his 10th career Dakar stage win.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing teammate Edgar Canet led for roughly the first 100 kilometers before a minor fall allowed Sanders to close the gap.
Third overall after a trio of third places on the Prologue and Stages One and Two is former two-time Dakar winner, Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy Honda HRC).

Seth Quintero led a top-five lockout for Toyota in the second stage of the 2026 Dakar Rally, while Dacia’s Nasser Al-Attiyah leapt to the top spot in the overall standings.

While Toyota struggled at the start of the 48th edition of Dakar in Yanbu, it bounced back strongly in Monday’s 400km test to Al-Ula, with the Japanese manufacturer’s Hilux pick-up emerging as the class of the field.

In the overall standings, it’s Al-Attiyah who heads the stable after two solid if unspectacular outings near the Gulf Sea. The Qatari driver holds a slim seven-second advantage over Monday’s winner Quintero
https://youtu.be/jAyJ-AoEHlE

Very much worth to watch, lot's of action.
Honda got its first taste of Dakar glory in 2026 on Stage Three with a win by Tosha Schareina.
The Spaniard, second last year and second in the W2RC season, topped the 421-kilometer special by 2:17s ahead of Monster Energy Honda teammate Ricky Brabec.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Daniel Sanders took third on the stage and continues to lead the overall by just over a minute.

Mitch Guthrie led a Ford 1-2 in the third stage of the Dakar Rally to snatch the overall lead from Dacia rival Nasser Al-Attiyah.
Toyota’s mixed form in the 2026 Dakar continued in Stage 3. After securing a landmark 1-2-3-4-5 lockout on Monday, most of the Japanese manufacturer’s line-up was never in the reckoning around Al-Ula.
https://youtu.be/wWtMKvdJYhg

1567 kilometer in timed specials and the top 2 Honda's have exact the same time..... and we only at stage so this will most likely change. Tons of drama can be expected, it's the Dakar!
The bikes will leave for the second half of marathon stage on same tires!
At the cars Factory Toyota driver Henk Lategan annihilated the competition in the Dakar Rally on Wednesday, scoring a mammoth seven-minute victory in the first part of the marathon stage.
Due to the marathon rules, the competitors will not receive any external assistance ie team mechanics or spare parts and overnight in the bivouac (tents and ready to eat meals) before they venture from Al-Ula to Hail for the fifth stage of Dakar.
https://youtu.be/fvNjCkwdlRM

Motos: Ricky Brabec took his first stage win of the 2026 Dakar Rally today as the Californian pulled back a little precious time on race leader and perennial rival Daniel Sanders.

Cars:Heading into the rest day, Dacia’s Al-Attiyah leads Lategan in the Toyota with a three-way manufacturer fight developing, as Roma leads a trio of Fords from team-mates Sainz and Mattia Ekstrom (13th on Stage 6).

https://youtu.be/aBn4gb5cYjw

Motos: Racing resumed today after the mid-point rest day and Luciano Benavides made the most of his opportunity on the run to Wadi Ad-Dawasir, charging to victory on the 459-kilometer special to claim his seventh career Dakar Rally stage win.
Cars: Ford’s Mattias Ekstrom has been gifted victory on Stage 7 of the 2026 Dakar Rally after long-time leader Henk Lategan hit trouble in the closing part and dropped over 10 minutes.
Lategan had been poised to take both the stage win and the overall lead as the Toyota driver headed the pack at the final checkpoint before the finish, having led Ekstrom by 1m46s, but the South African lost all of his advantage in the run to the chequered flag of the 459km stage between Riyadh and Wadi Ad-Dawasir.
https://youtu.be/N8GXEbKr3Dc

The beginning of the second week of the 2026 Dakar Rally unfolded positively for KTM, who won Stage 7 on Sunday and continue to lead the rally.
https://youtu.be/GsIF5OArmE4

Luciano Benavides continued his impressive form at the 2026 Dakar Rally by winning Stage 8 and moving into the overall lead after the longest special of this year’s event. The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider delivered a near-flawless performance on the 483-kilometer test, collecting maximum time bonuses and securing his third stage win of the rally.

Saood Variawa edged out Toyota team-mate Henk Lategan in the final dash to the finish line to claim victory in the eighth stage of the 2026 Dakar Rally.
Despite being the longest stage of the 48th edition of Dakar, the 483km special around Wadi ad Dawasir offered the closest competition so far in the rally, with the top eight drivers separated by just under a minute at the halfway point of the day.
https://youtu.be/98yxgfBVGLI

The second marathon stage of the Dakar Rally, indeed a test of endurance, both physical, mental, and mechanical did toss up the overall rankings with not expected stage winners in car category.
At the motos Tosha Schareina delivered a standout performance to take the stage win, setting the tone as the rally enters its most demanding phase.
Ricky Brabec pushed hard and managed to claw back valuable time in the overall standings, keeping the fight wide open with just four stages remaining.
At the cars Roma and Sainz benefit from rivals’ errors and misfortune in what could end up being the decisive stage of Dakar 2026.
Eryk Goczal claimed a shock win for Toyota customer Energylandia in Stage 9 of the Dakar Rally, as Nani Roma surged from fourth place to assume the overall lead.
The 410km test from Wadi ad-Dawasir to Bisha turned Dakar on its head, with overnight leader Nasser Al-Attiyah and several key contenders losing significant time due to navigation issues.
https://youtu.be/-w4UllvN-jI

Skyler Howes claimed his first Dakar Rally stage victory on Stage 11, becoming the ninth American rider to win a stage at the event. Competing in his eighth Dakar, the Utahn was quickest on the route to Al Henakiyah, a stage featuring terrain well suited to his background growing up in the rocky Utah and Colorado enclaves.
Benavides now leads the overall standings by 23 seconds, but faces increased pressure heading into the decisive stage, with Brabec set to start six minutes behind him.

Ford dominated Stage 11 of the 2026 Dakar Rally, as Toyota’s Lategan dropped out of the victory fight.
Ford dominated Stage 11 of the 2026 Dakar Rally, with Mattias Ekstrom heading a 1-2-3 while team-mate Nani Roma chipped into Nasser Al-Attiyah’s overall lead, and Toyota’s victory hopes ended when Henk Lategan dropped out of contention.
https://youtu.be/z-X9UnI9lFA

Dakar 2026 - Stage 12, Al Henakiyah > Yanbu.
All classes, moto,cars, trucks - no comments. Dakar pure!

Little reminder from yesteryear's Dakar (2017): no matter how good as a driver, no matter how good your race vehicle - a little luck needs to be there for real clusterphuk situations!

The 2026 Dakar finale was one of those shocking moments in world sport where everything changes in a heartbeat, such as Greg LeMond beating Laurent Fignon by 8 seconds in the 1989 Tour de France or Manchester United coming back from behind to win the 1999 Champions League final in injury time.
Luciano Benavides edged out Ricky Brabec by 2 seconds, the narrowest margin in the history of the rally, in the latest twist ever seen in the Dakar, a navigation error 7 km from the line.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing exploded in jubilation, while the American Monster Energy Honda HRC rider, who missed out on a three-peat, swallowed his bitter defeat with dignity.
The Argentinian picked up the first rally of his career, joining his brother Kevin (a winner in 2021 and 2023) in the annals of the race.

Motos: It was all looking so promising for Ricky Brabec heading into the final stage of Dakar 2026. A short 108km special around Yanbu was all that stood between him a third career Dakar crown, and with over three minutes in hand, Brabec’s win over Luciano Benavides looked a formality.
That was until Brabec made a crucial navigation error just seven kilometers from the finish and lost his advantage.
The result was Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Luciano Benavides won the 2026 Dakar by two seconds after over 49 hours of competitive racing. It was the closest finish in the history of the event in any class.
Cars: Dacia star Nasser Al-Attiyah claimed a sixth Dakar Rally victory in 2026, moving to within two wins of the outright record held by Stephane Peterhansel.
In what was one of the most competitive Dakar campaigns in recent history, 10 different drivers representing five manufacturers scored individual stage wins, in stark contrast to last year’s Toyota-dominated event.
https://youtu.be/4OkWITGXJ8Y

Audi become the fourth team to reveal their livery for the F1 2026 season.
The German car manufacturer unveil their colors for the upcoming 2026 season, following similar launches by Red Bull, Racing Bulls and Haas.
https://www.youtube.com/live/4PU8FyfCYxk