Poignant win for de Mevius, Baumel, SA riders star
Belgian Mini John Cooper Works crew Guillaume de Mevius and Mathieu Baumel quite literally came out of nowhere to win Sunday’s opening Car stage of Dakar 2026, while a penalty denied Motswana Ross Branch the bike victory. South African amateur, Michael Docherty however extended his Rally 2 class bike advantage.
The winning Mini had disappeared from the car timing sheets after a transponder glitch, but the crew’s overall time was good enough demote Qatari five-time Dakar winner, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin’s Dacia Sandrider to second from Ford Raptor privateers Martin Prokop and Viktor Chytka.
Ekstrom, Ford dominated, but…
Fourth overall, German Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist had dominated the day in what at a point appeared to be a Factory Ford Raptor benefit, but they slowed in the final sector to only just hold Polish SVR Hilux privateers Marek Goczal and Maciej Marton off for fourth. Spanish four-time Dakar winner Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz’ Factory Ford Raptor held on for fifth ahead of top South African, Guy Botterill and Spaniard Oriol Mena’s SVR Gazoo Hilux.
Two more Factory Raptors, Spaniards, Nani Roma and Álex Haro and US duo Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch followed from French nine-time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb and Édouard Boulanger’s Dacia Sandrider. Of further South African interest, Saood Variawa and Francois Cazalet’s SVR Hilux was 13th after running in the top ten most of the day. Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings’ Overdrive version was 17th from Century Factory CR-7 crews, Frenchmen Mathieu Serradori and Loïc Minaudier and South Africans Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer. Sunday’s positions also represent the overall Dakar Car standings.
Steady day for South African Botterill
While Hilux men Quintero and Botterill led Ekstrom early in the stages the Swede’s Raptor was soon out front from Loeb’s Dacia. Sainz then moved up to second and not long after, Prokop and was flirting with the top three. Ekstrom, Sainz and Roma however made it a Factory Raptor 1-2-3 at the halfway mark. From there, the positions behind Ekstrom ebbed and flowed between the chasing horde.
The starting positions around tenth and behind clearly benefited those crews as leading cars struggled to open the road. First away, Lategan and Cummings languished towards the back of the top 20. Up front, Eriksson who chose his 12th starting slot after winning the Prologue seemed indomitable. He however lost time in the final sector and first Prokop and then Al Attiyah moved ahead. But Mini men de Mevius and Baumel, who had disappeared following that transponder glitch, literally came out of nowhere to steal the win.
It was a poignant victory for multiple Dakar winning navigator Baumel, his first after losing a leg in a freak spectating accident at Monte Carlo a year ago. And it was a significant win for literal Dakar minnow Mini in the face of its highly vaunted rivals.
Defender hangs on to Stock advantage
Elsewhere, Land Rover’s new Defender trio had dominated the revitalised Dakar Stock class with a Prologue debut 1-2-3. US lady Dakar star Sara Price and Sean Berriman, Mr. Dakar, Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel and Michaël Metge and Lithuanian duo Rokas Baciuska and Oriol Vidal led stalwart Miura Akira and Ronald Basso Stock class Toyota Land Cruiser GR. It was all change on Sunday, however. Baciuska led Akira and Peterhansel as Price appeared to be struggling at the time of writing.
Moving on to two wheels, Motswana 2024 World Champion and former multiple South African Cross Country Champion, Tork Craft rider, Ross Branch has dominated the first official Bike stage of Dakar 2026 aboard his Hero Moto 450 Rally, only to be docked six minutes for speeding and drop to seventh. South African Michael Docherty however made no mistakes to win the amateur Rally 2 class on his BAS KTM 450, but he had to work for it against Portuguese Honda Factory rookie sensation Martim Ventura.
Branch dominated bikes. But for a penalty
While Branch was more or less kept on his toes by Factory KTM 450 Rally duo, Spanish rookie Édgar Canet and 2025 Dakar winner and World Champion Aussie Daniel Sanders, he was never really under pressure after moving ahead around 100 kilometres into Sunday’s 302 km loop around Yanbu. Canet overhauled his experienced teammate later in the day to claim second, 1 minute 21 seconds behind Branch, which later turned into the stage win on Branch’s penalty.
Behind them, Honda Factory CRF450 duo, Californian Ricky Brabec and Spanish rider Tosha Schareina Honda followed in fourth and fifth from Argentine Luciano Benavides’ factory KTM, the penalised Branch, Chilean Hero Moto rider Ignacio Cornejo, French Honda rider Adrien van Beveren. Rally 2 leaders Docherty and Ventura came home ninth and eleventh, each side of Skyler Howes’ Rally GP Honda.
Rally 2 winner Docherty starred
Slovak KTM privateer Stefan Svitko followed in twelfth. From Czech Martin Michek’s Hoto Factory 450 Rally and Factory Sherco duo, Durban lad Bradley Cox and Spaniard Lorenzo Santolino. Uruguayan Emanuel Gyenes was the leading no-service Original rider, provisionally 24th on his KTM, and still running at the time of writing, South African Ronald Venter sat 88th on his KTM.
Overall, Canet leads Sanders by a minute and five seconds with Brabec third from Schareina, Benavides, Cornejo, Branch and van Beveren. Rally 2 leader Docherty is ninth overall from Howes and Rally 2 lad Ventura.
Canet inherited a second win in a row
There was another turnaround in T3 Challenger. Dutch crew Paul Spierings’ Taurus topped the Prologue from South African lass Puck Klaassen’s KTM and another flying young lady, American Dani Akeel. Sunday however saw Argentine David Zille out front in his Taurus. He led Nicolas Cavigliasso and double bike winner Kevin Benavides’ similar machines. Spierings was fighting back as they sped to the finish.
Saturday’s T4 Side-by-Side result was also turned on its head on Sunday. American Brock Heger’s Polaris was quickest on Prologue from Portuguese Gonçalo Guerreiro’s similar machine and US lad Kyle Chaney’s Can-Am. Sunday however saw Frenchman Xavier de Soultrait out front from Portuguese Alexandre Pinto and Guerreiro. Iveco duo Mitchel van den Brink and Lithuanian Vaidotas Zala were quickest on Saturday’s Truck Prologue ahead of Gert Huzink in a Renault, but Czech Ales Loprais’ Iveco was in charge from Mitchel van der Brink and Richard de Groot’s MM Iveco on Sunday.
Lady racer Aliyyah Koloc and Marcin Pasek were the best of the Kyalami-built Red-Lined REVO T1+s in 31st in the Prologue. But she was struggling on Sunday. The Prologue was a disaster for South African based WCT Amaroks. German Jurgen Schroder and South African Stuart Gregory were delayed to come home 60th. Even worse, son Daniel Schroder and SA navigator Henry Kohene retired when they rolled their WCT Amarok. The car’s damaged chassis was deemed unsuitable to continue by the FIA.
Dakar heads into Stage 2 for a 400 km run from Yanbu to Al-Ula on Monday. Your Daily Auto Dakar Report is powered by Toyota Gazoo Racing and Tork Craft tools.
