The chief of the RallyGP class for the 2026 Dakar Rally has modified, however KTM will proceed to take the lead from stage 8 onwards.
Luciano Benavidez took his third win of the rally on stage 8, his second in two years, and took the general lead for the primary time on this yr’s Dakar.
The Argentine’s benefit now means he has a 10-second lead over his Purple Bull KTM teammate Daniel Saunders, who was second till the eighth stage.
Ricky Brabec remained in third place after the eighth stage, and after being 5 minutes slower than Benavidez on Monday, he’s now 4 minutes and 47 seconds behind the chief.
Over the previous few phases, the 2 KTM riders and Brabec have cemented themselves because the strongest and most constant riders of the yr.
Tosha Chalayna remained aggressive and was fourth at this time, however 5 minutes slower than Brabec and almost 10 minutes slower than Benavidez’s successful time. The Spaniard stays fourth general, however is greater than 20 minutes off the lead, half of which is penalty time taken late final week.
Adrian van Beveren, who had his finest efficiency within the rally to date on Sunday, once more posted a top-five stage time on Monday, though he was a number of minutes slower than Chalayna. He stays seventh general, simply over 17 minutes behind sixth-place Nacho Cornejo, who’s about 5 minutes behind fifth-place Skyler Howes.
Ross Department, Preston Campbell and Toni Murek proceed to spherical out the general high 10 bikes.
Edgar Canet continued his restoration from final weekend’s vital time loss. He recorded the seventh quickest time on the stage and was forty fourth general.
Within the Final class, there was little change on the high, with Nasser Al-Attiyah persevering with to steer from Matthias Ekström, with simply 4 minutes separating them.
Henk Lategan misplaced his podium spot to Nani Roma on Sunday, however was again in third place forward of the Spaniard on Monday.
Carlos Sainz stays fifth among the many third Fords, 10 minutes and 39 seconds off the lead, and 7 minutes forward of Sebastien Loeb, who stays sixth on the finish of stage eight.
Mitch Guthrie, in seventh place, remains to be in a comparatively good place with a 23:00 distinction from the chief, adopted by Loic Serradoli, who’s eighth, with a 25:04 distinction from Al Attiyah.
The variations in stage occasions had been minimal at this time, with the highest 10 Final runners separated by simply 3 minutes 48 seconds on the 483km particular, and the highest 4 runners separated by lower than a minute.
The one that led the stage time was 20-year-old South African Sword Valiawa, who took his first stage win.
Tuesday’s stage 9, a 550km route ranging from Wadi advert Dawasir, is the primary half of this yr’s second marathon stage.
