Daniel Saunders continues to steer the 2026 Dakar Rally after the sixth stage, which spans over 900km, has concluded.
Solely 326km of the race was particular, and after receiving a six-minute penalty for dashing, Saunders remained in third place, 1 minute 17 seconds behind stage winner Ricky Brabec of Honda.
Brabec is at the moment 45 seconds behind Saunders within the general standings and 9 minutes and 30 seconds behind Luciano Benavidez, who stays in third place.
Tosha Shalayna was second on the stage, lower than two minutes behind Benavidez within the battle for third place, the place Shaleyna fell after receiving a 10-minute penalty on Thursday.
Nacho Cornejo remained in fifth place after the sixth stage, with almost half-hour left to win and a virtually 20-minute lead over Chalayna, who was forward of him. He’s simply over two minutes away from sixth-placed Skylar Howes, and the American is 24 minutes behind HRC teammate Adrian van Beveren.
The fifth HRC bike is ridden by American rookie Preston Campbell, who’s at the moment in ninth place general on the finish of the primary week of his first Dakar.
Within the Final class, Nasser Al-Attiyah took the lead by greater than six minutes from Henk Lategan, who was within the lead on the finish of the earlier two days.
Al Attiyah received the sixth stage with a virtually three-minute lead over his Dacia teammate Sebastien Loeb. Loeb is at the moment sixth general, lower than 10 minutes from the rostrum (17 minutes and 36 seconds behind Al Attiyah’s lead).
Loeb’s rise to sixth place disrupted the 3-4-5-6 Ford fleet that had maintained the general rating since Thursday, with Mitch Gasly falling to seventh regardless of recording an Eleventh-place time on the sixth stage.
The Ford vehicles forward of Loeb additionally modified positions, with Matthias Ekström dropping to fifth, Nani Roma transferring as much as third and Carlos Sainz fourth. Roma stay inside 10 minutes of the lead, however Sainz is 11 minutes and 49 seconds again and Ekström is 12 minutes and 11 seconds again.
This 12 months we will probably be closed on Saturday. The 2026 Dakar will resume on Sunday with a virtually 900km (particular 462km) stage from Riyadh to Wadi advert Dawasir.
