The Dacia Sandrider duo won just one of the stages but will take full advantage of a day of rest and relaxation in Riyadh before resuming their quest for Dakar glory on Sunday. The five-time champion led after the second stage, stayed in contention on the rugged, stony and punishing terrain that Saudi Arabia threw at crews on the run from Yanbu, via Al-Ula and Ha’il to Riyadh and is well-placed to push for a maiden success for Dacia and a sixth personal victory next week.

The Qatari said: “I worked hard on the last stage before the rest day. The first five days were really quite easy but we tried to push on this stage. The car was working very well and I am very happy with the time we managed to take. It’s fantastic to have a lead and we need to have this strategy for the second week. We have tried to manage without any problems, just a few punctures.”

Last year’s runner-up Henk Lategan and his fellow South African navigator Brett Cummings led for two days and won the fourth stage but will need to attack next week in their Toyota Hilux GR. They hold second overall.

Lategan said: “It was a tricky last stage for us, a full dune stage. We were on Nasser’s pace for the first part and then we made a couple of mistakes with the line choices in the dunes. We have a nice road position for the next stage and are in a good position to start the second week. There are some difficult days coming up. I see a big struggle coming..”

Ford Racing delivered a strong first-week performance with Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist winning the Prologue and Mitch Guthrie claiming two stage wins. But the two Spanish veterans, Joan Roma and Carlos Sainz, have delivered consistent stage results and hold third and fourth at the rest day with Ekström running in fifth in the third of the Raptors.

Guthrie and navigator Kellon Walch hold seventh overall behind nine-time WRC champion Sébastien Loeb and Edouard Boulanger in the second of the Sandriders.

French privateer Mathieu Serradori has teamed up with Loic Minaudier and guided the leading Century CR7 to eighth. The Energylandia Rally Team’s Eryk Goczal/Szymon Gospodarczyk and defending W2RC champion Lucas Moraes (Dacia) and his navigator Armand Monleón round off the top 10.

Seventy-one crews from the total car field were registered for the W2RC, with 34 lining up in the Ultimate class alongside 18 in Challenger, 14 in SSV and five in the rejuvenated Stock section.

A Prologue of 22km got the competitive action underway on January 3rd and the Ford Racing team made a strong start.

Ekström topped the times in his Raptor to claim the win by 7.4 seconds from team-mate Guthrie. X-Raid’s Guillaume de Mévius, Al-Attiyah and Toyota’s Seth Quintero rounded off the top five. Lategan suffered a flat tyre and was forced to open the road for the first stage.

The short Prologue delivered its fair share of surprises, however, with Overdrive Racing’s Hernan Garces getting stuck on a giant boulder for half an hour, German driver Daniel Schröder barrel rolling his Volkswagen Amarok into eventual retirement and Pim Klaassen taking a stage maximum penalty after running out of fuel.

Early bragging rights in the Challenger, SSV and Stock classes went to Paul Spierings, Brock Heger and Sara Price.

The opening loop stage around Yanbu ran for 304.81km and was divided into three timed sections. De Mévius set the quickest time and edged into a 40-second lead over Al-Attiyah with Martin Prokop (Ford), Ekström, Marek Goczal (Toyota) and Sainz moving into the top six.

De Mévius said: "Winning a stage always feels good, but it wasn't really our strategy for the day. Still, it's a positive sign because we didn't feel we had the outright pace to take the stage. With Mathieu (Baumel) on my right, I'm not worried about opening a special. But of course, there is strategy involved, and we'll need to stay mindful for what comes next."

Loeb was among numerous drivers to sustain flat tyres on the sharp stones and slipped to 10th but defending champion Yazeed Al-Rajhi incurred 16 minutes of time penalties for missing a waypoint and for speeding and plummeted to 39th.

Stage two ran from Yanbu to Al-Ula along the Red Sea coast for 400km and Quintero was one of only three drivers to break the four-hour mark on his way to the stage win for Toyota. The American finished 1min 42sec in front of team-mate Lategan on a stage where Al-Rajhi, Toby Price and João Ferreira filled the top five positions for the Japanese manufacturer.

Al-Attiyah reached the finish in eighth, 6min 31sec off the pace, but that was sufficient for the Qatari to give Dacia the Dakar lead for the first time. He headed into the night halt just seven seconds clear of Quintero, with De Mévius, Lategan and Loeb rounding off the top five. Denis Krotov (Ford) stopped on two occasions with technical issues and lost touch with the leaders as a result.

Guthrie became the third stage winner in as many days on the gruelling 420.65km special that looped through the desert around Al-Ula and offered tricky navigation. The Ford driver got the better of Ford privateer Prokop by 2min 27sec to lead the Dakar by 26 seconds from his Czech rival.

Toyota’s Guy Botterill and the Dacia duo of Lucas Moraes and Cristina Gutiérrez rounded off the day’s top five with overnight leader Al-Attiyah finishing over 22 minutes behind the stage winner and slipping to 10th. Remarkably, Ford Raptors filled the top five positions with Ekström, Sainz and Roma holding third, fourth and fifth overall.

Punctures hampered Loeb, Saood Variawa, Sainz, Botterill, Ferreira and De Mévius with the latter needing to borrow rubber from X-Raid team-mate Lionel Baud after running out of spare tyres. Jourdan Serderidis retired his Ford Raptor after a steering arm broke and he rolled heavily.

Stage four ran for 451.37km and formed the first part of a Marathon section from Al-Ula to a remote Refuge bivouac where servicing was left to the responsibility of the driver and co-driver.

Lategan became the fourth different driver from a fourth different manufacturer to win a stage when he topped the times on the first part of the Marathon. He grabbed an overall lead of 3min 55sec over Al-Attiyah with Ekström climbing back to third. It was also a successful day for the Goczal family in a trio of Toyotas: father Marek, son Eryk and uncle Michal completed the stage in third, fourth and sixth with Loeb finishing sixth.

Lategan said: “We have had a total of nine punctures so far. It’s unbelievable. I didn’t know what to do on the rocks and whether to slow or not. I decided to forget all that and just go for it. It’s a lottery anyway. We played Russian roulette!”

A succession of punctures ruined Al-Rajhi’s title defence and he quit the special after 234km and decided to retire from the rally. “We sat there for maybe an hour until Seth (Quintero) came and gave us a tyre,” said the Saudi. “We carried on but were already late. It would be really hard to make up that time. Even if I tried to push, I’d be taking a big risk.”

De Mévius also suffered mechanical issues after 122km and lost further time to the leading group.

The second 370.63km section of the Marathon stage preceded the road section to the night halt in Ha’il. A 70-second time penalty deprived Roma of the stage win and permitted Guthrie to record his second of the campaign in a Ford 1-2-3 on the day. Prokop was third. The overall top three remained unchanged with Lategan seeing his lead trimmed to 3min 17sec by Al-Attiyah and Ekström retaining third.

Sandy stage six wrapped up the first half of the Dakar and ran for 325.98km on the longest day of the event between Ha’il and the official rest day in Riyadh. Al-Attiyah earned his first stage win of the campaign and a 49th of his Dakar career to lead the event for a second time and take a 6min 10sec cushion over Lategan into the second half of the rally. Loeb and Quintero finished second and third on the day.

Navarro and Rosa ahead in Challenger class

The Spanish BBR Taurus T3 Max crew of Pau Navarro and Jan Rosa head into week two with a cushion of 4min 57sec in the Challenger category. Taurus T3s hold the top two positions with the Odyssey Academy team duo of defending W2RC champions, Nicolas Cavigliasso and Valentina Pertegarini, holding second position.

Dutch girl Puck Klaassen won a stage with navigator Augusto Sanz in their G Rally Team G-ECKO and are a distant sixth in the rankings behind the South American Taurus crew of Lucas Del Rio/Bruno Jacomy and Yasir Saeidan/Xavier Flick and David Zille/Sebastien Cesana. Taurus T3s fill the top four positions.

BBR Motorsport’s Zille topped the times on the opening stage to take an early lead of 42 seconds over Prologue winner Paul Spierings, who lost the potential stage win with a one-minute speeding penalty. Defending champion Cavigliasso, Navarro and Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari were the early front-runners in the top five.

Del Rio topped the times on stage two to beat Seaidan, Klaassen, Zille and Al-Kuwari. There were sizeable time losses for both Kevin Benavides and early pace-setter Spierings (accident). Zille moved into a 1min 58sec lead over Seaidan with Del Rio in third.

Akeel suffered turbo hose issues and four flat tyres and Al-Kuwari blotted his copybook with a crash on the third stage where the fastest time went to Klaassen from Seaidan, Del Rio and Navarro. The result enabled Seaidan to snatch the outright lead from Klaassen and Navarro, although the Dutch girl became the fifth woman in Dakar history to take a stage win across the various classes. Benavides lost further ground with shock absorber problems and a broken driveshaft.

Defending W2RC champion Cavigliasso won the fourth stage into the Marathon bivouac by 2min 29sec from Navarro with Akeel bouncing back from her delays on day three to finish third. Seaidan was fourth and saw his lead over Navarro trimmed to just 45 seconds. Spierings stopped after 81km and slipped further behind, while Klaassen was also in the wars with technical issues after 132km. Al-Kuwari failed to restart and retired his QMMF Team Taurus T3 Max.

Del Rio narrowly got the better of Navarro and Akeel to win the second half of the Marathon stage and a small time loss for Seaidan enabled Navarro to move into a 4min 26sec Challenger lead.

Technical issues cost Seaidan dearly on the sixth stage where Ignacio Casale topped the day’s standings from Akeel, Benavides and Cavigliasso. Sixth place enabled Navarro to maintain his lead.

Heger leads the SSVs in a Polaris; Can-Am Factory Team’s Chaney tops W2RC crews

The American duo of Brock Heger and Max Eddy are not registered for the W2RC but have a comfortable lead in the SSV class in Riyadh. The Loeb Fraymedia Motorsport Polaris team has enjoyed a memorable first week of competition and Heger holds an advantage of 32min 20sec over his team-mates Xavier de Soultrait and Martin Bonnet.

The Can-Am Factory Team is registered for the W2RC and Kyle Chaney and Jacob Argubright lead the way in third place, ahead of Portuguese team-mates João Monteiro and Nuno Morais.

De Soultrait won the opening stage in the SSV section in his Polaris RZR Pro R. Defending champion Alexandre Pinto was the highest-ranked of the registered drivers in second with Heger, Lopez and Gonçalo Guerriero rounding off the top five.

Polaris crews secured the top three positions on stage two with the win falling to Guerreiro but fourth-placed Lopez was the leading W2RC-registered driver in his Can-Am. He also held fourth in the SSV standings behind De Soultrait, Guerriero and Heger.

Polaris crews continued to dominate through stage three with Heger claiming the win from Guerriero and Can-Am’s Monteiro. The American moved 43 seconds clear of his Portuguese team-mate with De Soultrait holding third.

Heger won stage four and saw his SSV lead grow to 31min 31sec on a day where Monteiro was second from João Dias. The Can-Am duo of Hunter Miller and Jeremías Gonzalez-Ferioli were fourth and fifth. Pinto was the leading W2RC runner in the overall classification in third but both Guerriero and Lopez lost ground on their rivals on the day’s stage.

The second part of the Marathon stage belonged to the Can-Am Factory Team and Chaney claimed the win from Lopez with Heger finishing third. The American increased his massive overall lead over De Soultrait to 37min 36sec with Chaney leading the registered W2RC drivers in third.

Turbo problems prevented Hunter Miller completing stage six but De Soultrait rounded off a successful week for Polaris with the fastest time in the SSVs. He finished ahead of the Can-Am duo of Chaney and Lopez, although Heger leads at the rest day.

New Defender Team’s Baciuška in control in the Stock category

Lithuania’s Rokas Baciuška and his Spanish navigator Oriol Vidal were in a dominant position in the Stock category at the rest day. The leading Defender Dakar D7x-R crew won two stages during the first week and head into the final six specials with an advantage of 44min 43sec over their team-mates, Stéphane Peterhansel and Michael Metge.

The Team Land Cruiser Toyota Auto Body crew of Ronald Basso and Julien Menard have been no match for the Defenders but held third position until stage six after massive time delays for the Defender Team’s Sara Price and Sean Berriman at the start of the rally. Akira Miura and Jean-Michel Polato are already out of contention in the second Toyota on an event where Defender drivers have won every stage so far.

Despite topping the times on the Prologue, Price suffered mechanical issues and lost two hours on the opening stage, where her Defender team-mate Baciuška romped to the stage win and an early 6min 49sec cushion over Basso. Peterhansel dropped nearly 49 minutes to his Lithuanian team-mate with power steering issues.

Price bounced back strongly to win the second stage from Baciuška and Peterhansel but the Lithuanian extended his overall lead to 11min 37sec over Toyota’s Miura. Peterhansel narrowly got the better of Baciuška to win the third stage but the youngster maintained a comfortable cushion of 28min 49sec over Basso at the top of the leader board.

Peterhansel made it two stage wins in as many days by beating Price to the fourth stage finish by 5min 12sec. It was a strong day for the Defender team and third for Baciuška enabled him to increase his lead over Basso to 42min 36sec.

Baciuška was back to winning ways on the second part of the Marathon stage and the Lithuanian increased his advantage over Basso to 1hr 12min 10sec. Peterhansel and Price gave the Defender team a 1-2-3 on the day and the Frenchman moved up to second place as a result.

Price rounded off week one with the stage win into Riyadh but Baciuška takes a comfortable cushion over Peterhansel into the second week. Basso hit trouble on the last stage before the rest day.

Action continues on Sunday with a demanding 462km stage from the Saudi capital to Wadi Ad-Dawasir. The route then heads into a loop stage around the bivouac on January 12th and then into the second Marathon stage between Wadi Ad-Dawasir and Bisha.

Crews will then enter the home straight with three stages between Bisha, Al-Henakiyah and Yanbu rounding off the competitive action before the ceremonial finish in Yanbu on January 17th.

2026 Dakar Rally – rest day positions after SS6 (W2RC registered only - unofficial):

1. Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL) Dacia Sandrider                               24hr 18min 29sec

2. Henk Lategan (RSA)/Brett Cummings (RSA) Toyota Hilux GR                                            24hr 24min 39sec

3. Joan Roma (ESP)/Alex Haro (ESP) Ford Raptor                                                                   24hr 27min 42sec

4. Carlos Sainz (ESP)/Lucas Cruz (ESP) Ford Raptor                                                                24hr 30min 18sec

5. Mattias Ekström (SWE)/Emil Bergkvist (SWE) Ford Raptor                                               24hr 30min 40sec

6. Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Edouard Boulanger (FRA) Dacia Sandrider                                     24hr 36min 05sec

7. Mitch Guthrie (USA)/Kellon Walch (USA) Ford Raptor                                                                        24hr 40min 18sec

8. Mathieu Serradori (FRA)/Loic Minaudier (FRA) Century CR7                                            24hr 41min 58sec

9. Eryk Goczal (POL)/Szymon Gospodarczyk (POL) Toyota Hilux                                           24hr 43min 29sec

10. Lucas Moraes (BRA)/Armand Monleón (ESP) Dacia Sandrider                                        24hr 45min 15sec

11. Saood Variawa (RSA)/François Cazalet (FRA) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo                                24hr 48min 00sec

12. Joāo Ferreira (POR)/Filipe Palmeiro (POR) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo                                    24hr 50min 25sec

13. Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP)/Pablo Moreno (ESP) Dacia Sandrider                                        24hr 52min 14sec

14. Martin Prokop (CZE)/Viktor Chytka (CZE) Ford Raptor                                                    24hr 53min 08sec

15. Toby Price (AUS)/Armand Monleón (ESP) Toyota Hilux GR                                             24hr 57min 31sec

16. Marek Goczal (POL)/Maciej Marton (POL) Toyota Hilux                                                  25hr 14min 50sec

17. Guy Botterill (RSA)/Oriol Mena (ESP) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo                                            25hr 21min 35sec

18. Laia Sanz (ESP)/Maurizio Gerini (ITA) Ebro S800 XRR                                                      25hr 23min 00sec

19. Seth Quintero (USA)/Andrew Short (USA) Toyota Hilux GR                                            25hr 28min 13sec

22. Michal Goczal (POL)/Diego Ortega (ESP) Toyota Hilux                                                    25hr 42min 41sec

25. Pau Navarro (ESP)/Jan Rosa (ESP) Taurus T3 Max                                                           26hr 46min 17sec

27. Nicolas Cavigliasso (ARG)/Valentia Pertegarini (ARG) Taurus Evo Max                           26hr 51min 14sec

31. Lucas Del Rio (CHI)/Bruno Jacomy (ARG) Can-Am Maverick WRS                                   27hr 12min 11sec

32. Hernán Garcés (CHI)/Juan Pablo Latrach (CHI) Toyota Hilux                                           27hr 16min 45sec

35. Yasir Seaidan (SAU)/Xavier Flick (FRA) Taurus Evo Max                                                   27hr 32min 47sec

36. Kyle Chaney (USA)/Jacob Argubright (USA) Can-Am Maverick R                                     27hr 49min 51sec

37. João Monteiro (POR)/Nuno Morais (POR) Can-Am Maverick R                                       27hr 54min 32sec

38. Lionel Baud (FRA)/Lucie Baud (FRA) Mini JCW Rally 3.0D                                                28hr 03min 15sec

39. David Zille (ARG)/Sebastien Cesana (ARG) Taurus T3 Max                                              28hr 09min 56sec

41. Puck Klaassen (NED)/ Augusto Sanz (ARG) G Rally Team G-ECKO                                   28hr 25min 39sec

45. Charles Munster (LUX)/Xavier Panseri (FRA) G Rally Team G-ECKO                                28hr 41min 46sec

46. Francesco Lopez (CHI)/Alvaro Leon (CHI) Can-Am Maverick R                                        28hr 48min 00sec

47. Manuel Andujar (ARG)/Andres Frini (ARG) Can-Am Maverick R                                     28hr 53min 27sec

48. Dania Akeel (SAU)/Sébastien Delaunay (FRA) Taurus T3 Max                                         28hr 59min 03sec

49. Pedro Gonçalves (PRT)/Hugo Maghalães (PRT) Taurus T3 Max                                      29hr 04min 51sec

50. Kees Koolen (NED)/Jurgen van den Goorbergh (NED) G Rally Team G-ECKO                  29hr 05min 57sec

51. Rui Carneiro (POR)/Fausto Mota (POR) MMP T3 Rally-Raid                                            29hr 11min 12sec

52. Rokas Baciuška (LTU)/Oriol Vidal (ESP) Defender Dakar D7x-R                                       29hr 12min 58sec

53. João Dias (POR)/Daniel Jordao (POR) Polaris RZR Pro R Sport                                         29hr 18min 58sec

55. Romain Dumas (FRA)/Alex Winocq (FRA) Ford Raptor                                                    29hr 19min 15sec

57. Stéphane Peterhansel (FRA)/Michael Metge (FRA) Defender Dakar D7x-R                    29hr 57min 41sec

58. Jeremias Gonzalez Ferioli (ARG)/Gonzalo Rinaldi (ARG) Can-Am Maverick R                 30hr 06min 04sec

61. Paul Spierings (NED)/Jan Pieter van der Stelt (NED) Taurus Evo Max                             30hr 15min 19sec

63. Kevin Benavides (ARG)/Lisandro Sisterna (ARG) Taurus T3 Max                                     30hr 25min 25sec

64. Guillaume de Mévius (BEL)/Mathieu Baumel (FRA) Mini JCW Rally 3.0i                         30hr 32min 06sec

66. Mindaugas Sidabras (LTU)/Ernestas Česokas (LTU) Can-Am Maverick R                        30hr 59min 26sec

67. Denis Krotov (KGZ)/Konstantin Zhiltsov (KGZ) Ford Raptor                                             31hr 01min 12sec

69. Richard Aczel (GBR)/Wouter Rosegaar (NED) Can-Am Maverick R                                 31hr 03min 58sec

70. Ronald Basso (FRA)/Julien Menard (FRA) Toyota Land Cruiser GR Sport                        31hr 04min 54sec

71. Maciej Oleksowicz (POL)/Marcin Sienkiewicz (POL) Can-Am Maverick R                       31hr 05min 59sec

76. Sara Price (USA)/Sean Berriman (USA) Defender Dakar D7x-R                                       31hr 43min 01sec

84. Miroslav Zapletal (CZE)/Marek Sykora (SVK) Ford F150 Evo                                            32hr 51min 16sec

87. Pim Klaassen (NED)/Mark Laan (NED) Taurus Evo Max                                                   34hr 51min 16sec

91. Sergei Remmenik (ANA)/Aleksei Ignatov (ANA) Taurus T3 Max                                      36hr 01min 51sec, etc

RETIREMENTS

N/C. Aliyyah Koloc (SEY)/Marcin Pasek (POL) Red-Lined Revo T1+                                       94hr 57min 55sec

Jean-Luc Ceccaldi (FRA)/Pascal Delecour (FRA) Optimum MD Rallye                                   RETIRED – SS5

Yazeed Al-Rajhi (KSA)/Timo Gottschalk (GER) Toyota Hilux GR                                             RETIRED – SS4                              

Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari (QAT)/Stéphane Duplé (FRA) Taurus T3 Max                                        RETIRED – AFTER SS3

Jourdan Serderidis (GRE)/Grégoire Munster (LUX) Ford Raptor                                            RETIRED – AFTER SS3                   

Daniel Schröder (GER)/Henry Kohne (RSA) Volkswagen Amarok                                          RETIRED – PROLOGUE

Select others

21. Brian Baragwanath (RSA)/Leonard Cremer (RSA) Century CR7                                       25hr 31min 29sec*    

23. Khalid Al-Qassimi (UAE)/Khalid Al-Kendi (UAE) Toyota Hilux IMT Evo                            26hr 26min 30sec*

24. Christian Lavieille (FRA)/Valentin Sarreaud (FRA) Optimus MD Rallye                           26hr 30min 42sec*

28. Brock Heger (USA)/Max Eddy (USA) Polaris RZR Pro R                                                    26hr 56min 33sec*

30. Ronan Chabot (FRA)/Gilles Pillot (FRA) Toyota Hilux                                                       27hr 05min 16sec*

33. Xavier de Soultrait (FRA)/Martin Bonnet (FRA) Polaris RZR Pro R                                   27hr 28min 53sec*

40. Gonçalo Guerreiro (POR)/Maykel Justo (BRA) Polaris RZR Pro R                                     28hr 13min 09sec*

(*denotes not W2RC registered)

Rally leaders

SS1                                               Guillaume de Mévius (Mini)

SS2                                               Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (Dacia)

SS3                                               Mitch Guthrie (Ford)

SS4-5                                           Henk Lategan (Toyota)

SS6                                               Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (Dacia)

Stage winners

Prologue                                    Mattias Ekström (Ford)                        

SS1                                               Guillaume de Mévius (Mini)

SS2                                               Seth Quintero (Toyota)

SS3                                               Mitch Guthrie (Ford)

SS4                                               Henk Lategan (Toyota)

SS5                                               Mitch Guthrie (Ford)

SS6                                               Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah (Dacia)