Ford, KTM top in pipe-opener, but whose hedging bets?
Ford Raptor crews, German Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist and US duo Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch, and KTM bike duo, Édgar Canet, Daniel Sanders may have emerged at the top of Dakar’s 2026 Prologue near Yanbu, Saudi Arabia on Saturday afternoon, but it can be taken with salt that several of their rivals ‘took it easy’ in search of a better starting position, further back on Sunday’s first official stage grid.
Dacia Sandrider teammates, five-time winner, Qatari Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin took the early lead in the car pipe-opener, only for Ekström and Guthrie to move ahead a short while later. Behind them, Toyota crews, Americans Seth Quintero and Andrew Short’s Overdrive Gazoo Hilux, 2025 winners, Saudi home hero Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk, and Poles Eryk Goczal and Szymon Gospodarczyk slipped ahead of Spanish Ford Raptor crews Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz, and Nani Roma and Álex Haro.
A De Mevius Mini in the Works!
Belgian Guillaume de Mevius and Mathieu Baumel then sounded a Mini warning as they jumped to third, before Frenchmen Mathieu Serradori and Loïc Minaudier’s South African made Century Factory CR7 and 2025 South Africans, champion Saood Variawa and Frenchman Francois Cazalet moved between Sainz and Roma. So Ekström and Bergkvist set off first Sunday morning ahead of Guthrie and Walch and de Mevius and Baumel. Behind them, Al-Attiyah, Quintero, Al-Rajhi, Goczal, Sainz and Serradori and Variawa complete the top ten.
Conspicuous by their absence in the top ten, Toyota Gazoo Hilux crews, former bike winner Toby Price and Armand Monleon’s Overdrive machine and South African Guy Botterill and Spaniard Oriol Mena’s SVR version, and Dacia Sandrider teams Sébastien Loeb and Édouard Boulanger and Lucas Moraes and Denis Zenz, and SA Century Factory C7R crew Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer’s SA Century however peppered the top-25. Slow? Or just biding their time? Sunday will tell!
Variawa delivered a steady tenth
Of the other South Africans, Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings’ Overdrive Gazoo Hilux suffered a puncture later in the stage en route to a provisional 32nd while German Daniel Schröder with SA navigator Henry Köhne navigating appeared to be struggling in their WCT Amarok.
On two wheels, The technically challenging ride made sure there was nowhere to hide as the two wheelers set off first onto the Prologue, in reverse order. South African privateer, double 2024 overall stage winner Michael Docherty led the way on his BAS KTM 450 once all the Rally 2 favourites were home. Leaving only the fifteen GP class professionals to finish.
Canet is youngest ever bike day winner
Third of those riders in, Spanish Rally GP rookie and ’25 Dakar Rally 2 winner Édgar Canet was the first of the top class men to lead before Czech Martin Michek went third behind Docherty on his new Chinese Hoto Factory 450 Rally. Botswana rider Ross Branch then reshuffled the top three with second for Hero Moto as fellow multiple South African Cross Country champion Bradley Cox went tenth on his Factory Sherco.
That left the cream of the factory crop to complete the Prologue. Honda riders, Frenchman Adrien van Beveren and Californian Skyler Howes slotted into fifth and sixth. Then KTM man, Argentine Luciano Benavides went second. 2025 top three, American Honda man Ricky Brabec then took second, Spanish rider Tosha Schareina slotted into sixth. And ’25 Dakar winner and 2025 world champion, Aussie Daniel Sanders finally stole second.
A good start for Motswana Ross Branch
KTM man Édgar Canet, the bike youngest winner in Dakar history. He and teammate Daniel Sanders led Honda man Ricky Brabec, Luciano Benavides on another KTM, Botswana hero Ross Branch and South African Rally 2 leader Michael Docherty on the 22km Dakar Prologue. They will set off in that order on Sunday. Several other riders however took the discretion over valour route. In search of a preferable starting position, further back on Sunday’s opening stage?
Among them, Honda trio, Tosha Schareina, Adrien van Beveren and Skyler Howes will be men to watch on Sunday. As will Hoto rider Martin Michek in tenth, along with Stefan Svitko and Bradley Cox. And several other stars scattered through the top twenty or so bikes. Dakar being Dakar, the pursuers should star on Sunday, before Saturday’s top few take over again on Monday and so the Dakar Bikes see-saw should continue.
Is Bradley Cox biding his time?
Of the rest Among the first riders out, South African privateer Ronald Venter delivered a solid rookie run on his KTM. He should be satisfied with his 75th position start among the 115 motorcycle field. It was however a tricky prologue for Kove team leader Neels Theric stuck in the stage with mechanical issues. The balance of the South African car crews, as well as the Stock, Side by Sides, Challenger and Truck entries were still to complete the stage at the time of writing.
There are 5000 kilometres of racing over 15 days and a total of 8000 km to the finish on 17 January. Dakar 2026 moves on to another 305 km loop around Yanbu on Sunday’s first official stage. Your Dakar car coverage is powered by Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa and Tork Craft tools.
