The 2026 Dakar Rally is coming to its ultimate stage, however the battle for first place within the RallyGP class stays as fierce as ever.
Luciano Benavidez regained the lead he held earlier within the week on Thursday’s stage 11.
The Argentine presently has a 23-second lead over Ricky Brabec heading into stage 12. Brabec is believed to have intentionally slowed down in direction of the tip of the stage to achieve a bonus in tomorrow’s highway order. With Benavidez fourth on the stage and Brabec sixth, the American will probably be two spots behind the rally chief within the beginning order for the penultimate stage.
After quarter-hour, Tosha Chalayna stays, and after 8 minutes, Daniel Saunders retreats. Saunders broke his collarbone and sternum in Wednesday’s crash and continues to rally regardless of being out of the dialog for victory on this 12 months’s Dakar.
Contemplating his bodily situation, Saunders’ thirteenth place in stage 11 was very spectacular, with solely 10 minutes and 28 seconds separating him from the stage winner.
That particular person was HRC’s Skylar Howes, who received his first stage win on Stage 11 of the 2026 Dakar. Adrian van Beveren received 1-2 for HRC. Edgar Canet was third. After recovering from a puncture sustained just a few hours earlier than the rally, he has now moved as much as thirty fourth place total.
Within the Final class, Matthias Ekström returned to kind after a mechanical downside on Wednesday. The Swede received the stage by 1 minute 22 seconds over former WEC racer Romain Dumas, who had his greatest rally stage end in second place.
Carlos Sainz was third on the stage. He and his Ford Racing teammate Ekström closed very near rally chief Nasser Al Attiyah on stage 12, with lower than half-hour separating them from the chief, with Ekström inside 21 minutes of the Dacia driver.
It was actually a tough day for the Dacia drivers, with Sebastien Loeb quickest in tenth, however Al Attiyah was seventeenth, greater than 12 minutes slower than Ekström within the particular, which took slightly below three hours.
Al-Attiyah completed within the prime three total, 8 minutes 40 seconds behind Nani Roma, who was eleventh on stage 11, and 18 minutes 37 seconds behind Sebastien Loeb. The penultimate stage of Friday’s rally will function 311km of particular driving, and all three vehicles ought to be capable to discover first rate highway positions.
