Goczals, Price beat Baragwanath, Roma leads Ford 1-2
Tuesday’s ninth day of Dakar action turned the 2026 race on its head. Polish Goczal brothers Eryk and Michal historically led Aussie Bike refugee Toby Price to a Toyota Hilux 1-2-3 from South African Century Factory driver Brian Baragwanath on a day where all the leaders hit trouble. That leaves Spanish factory Ford Raptor drivers Nani Roma leading Carlos Sainz by a minute, with Nasser Al Attiyah’s Sandrider seconds adrift and Henk Lategan still in contact in fourth, despite his troubled day at the office.
The Bike day proved just as full of drama and intrigue as leading riders had to fight for their lunch on Tuesday. On another cruel day for early leaders Edgar Canet and Ross branch, Daniel Sanders fought back from 34th earlier in the day to end up second behind Spanish Honda rider Tosha Schareina and move back into the Dakar lead for KTM. South African Michael Docherty dominated Rally 2 as he chased the overall stage win en route to third at the second week Marathon bivouac.
The Car day started quite normally with Sébastien Loeb and Édouard Boulanger’s Dacia leading teammates, Brazilian Lucas Moraes and Dennis Zenz and Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch’s factory Ford Raptor. Overall leaders, Qatari five-time Dakar winner, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin’s Dacia Sandrider led German Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist’s Ford Raptor and South Africans, Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings’ Overdrive Toyota Hilux kept a watching brief for the opening 150 kilometres of the 410 km run to the second no-service Marathon bivouac.
Eryk led an historic Goczal Bros. 1-2
Things however soon became quite blurred when first Loeb and Boulanger’s Dacia stopped twice to remedy an issue, while Guthrie and Wach were also in trouble with an oil leak. At the same time, Lategan and Cummings lost fourteen minutes replacing a broken power steering. And then both Al-Attiyah and Ekstrom got lost.
That left Moraes and Zenz’ Dacia leading South African Guy Botterill and Spaniard Oriol Mena’s SVR Hilux and Czech privateers Martin Prokop and Viktor Chytka’s Ford Raptor as Michal Goczal appeared in fifth. There was just as big a shift in the virtual overall standings. Spanish four-time Dakar winner Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz‘ Ford Raptor led compatriot teammates, former car and bike winner Nani Roma and Álex Haro with Attiyah down to third from Lategan, Loeb and Ekstrom.
On the road, Eryk all of a sudden led Michal Goczal, Baragwanath’s Century and Price’s Overdrive Hilux. Price then passed Baragwanath for fourth as the Goczal brothers brought it home to another shock win in an historic family 1-2. From Price, Baragwanath, Belgian Guillaume de Mevius and Mathieu Baumel’s Mini, Spanish lady star Cristina Gutiérrez and Pablo Moreno’s Dacia, and new overall leaders, Sainz and Roma.
Roma found himself in the overall lead
Lategan ended 16th, Attiyah 17th and Monday winners, South African Champion Saood Variawa and Frenchman Francois Cazalet’s SVR Hilux 18th, Loeb 22nd and Ekstrom 28th. Guy Botterill slipped to 15th, while Frenchmen Mathieu Serradori and Loïc Minaudier’s Century Factory CR-7 also had a day to forget in 36th.
Overall, Sainz and Cruz initially led the standings but a minute penalty put them 57 second behind Ford Raptor teammates Roma and Haro. Thirteen seconds adrift, Attiyah and Lurquin’s Dacia sits third from Lategan and Cummings’ Toyota, Ekstrom and Bergkvist’s Ford, Loeb, Price and Moraes. Serradori is ninth, Variawa 11th, Baragwanath 14th and Botterill 15th.
Elsewhere, Paul Sperings’ Taurus defeated former Bike winner Kevin Benavides to take T3 Challenger, where Pau Navarro is controlling a 40 minute overall advantage. Chaleco Lopez kept impressive World Rallycross Champion Johan Kristoferson in second in the T4 Side by Sides, where Brock Heger is in complete control overall. Rokas Bakiuska won Stock to extend his overall advantage over Defender teammate Sara Price, and Ales Loprais won the Trucks in his Iveco where Mitchel van der Brink’s MMT maintains a 35 minute lead over Vitor Zala’s Iveco.
Sanders came from behind to lead again
Moving over to the Bikes, the day started with Spanish Rally GP rookie Édgar Canet leading Michael Docherty, Tosha Schareina and Ross Branch while overnight leaders, 2025 Dakar winner 450 Rally Factory KTM men, Argentine Luciano Benavides and Aussie World Champion Daniel Sanders languished in 52nd and 34th, and Honda riders, Frenchman Adrien van Beveren and Californian Ricky Brabec struggled in 34th and 11th.
An entertaining dice followed for second between Docherty and Neels Theric’s Kove behind runaway leader Canet before Ross Branch moved up to second. Canet however lost half an hour and Branch slowed considerably to allow Schareina to lead Docherty, a recovered Brabec, Utah Honda teammate Skyler Howes, Theric and Branch.
Sanders was the man on the move toward the finish as he picked off all except Schareina with Docherty third from Brabec, Howes, van Beveren, Theric, Cox and Benavides. That also served to shake up the overall leaderboard as Sanders returned to a 6-minute lead over Brabec with Benavides third from Schareina, Howes and Chilean Hero rider Ignacio Cornejo.
SA’s Docherty won his sixth ‘ 26 Rally 2 Stage
Van Beveren rides in seventh from Branch and US Rally 2 leader Preston Campbell’s Honda, with Cox 11th overall. Wednesday brings a dune-rich 371 km run to Bisha to end the second Marathon stage with three more stages from there to the finish in Yanbu on Saturday. Your Dakar Bike Report is powered by Tork Craft tools and Toyota Gazoo Racing.
