Attiyah tightens grip on Number 6, trouble for Lategan
Nasser Al Attiyah appears on course to his sixth Dakar Rally victory following a dominant day for Ford and disastrous one for Toyota. Ford trio, Mattias Ekstrom, Romain Dumas and Carlos Sainz sped to a Factory Raptor 1-2-3 as Attiyah made best of the disadvantage of running up front in his Dacia. It was however a tough day for South Africans Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings, whose stab at victory came to a grinding halt to leave Aussie Toby Price the best of the Toyotas in eighth.
It was equally dramatic in the Bikes, where the lead has changed twice in two days to see just 26 seconds between Luciano Benavides’ KTM and Ricky Brabec’s Honda with just over 400 of the race’s 5000 kilometres left to run. On a day where Skyler Howes dominated for Honda, the Rally 2 lead also changed, while its also close in Original, And the Southern African trio all enjoyed decent days in the saddle.
Thursday’s 346 kilometre special of mainly quick tracks with a little rock and sand for good measure to Al Henakiyah, was one of the year’s fastest. Factory Ford Raptor duo German Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist and Spanish four-time winner Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz were rapid out the blocks to lead the Cars through the opening waypoint. Belgian Guillaume de Mevius and Mathieu Baumel’s Mini sat third from Lategan and Cummings leading a train of Toyota Hiluxes.
Al Attiyah now the man to beat
Lategan lost time by 120 km to allow compatriot Saood Variawa and Frenchman Francois Cazalet’s rival SVR Hilux up to third from French Raptor crew Romain Dumas and Alex Winocq, de Mevius and Botterill. Sadly Lategan’s day went from bad to worse when his Hilux ground to a halt, losing an hour and a half before stopping again 10 km after rejoining.
That left Ekstrom leading Variawa, Dumas, Sainz, de Mevius and South African Guy Botterill and Spaniard Oriol Mena’s SVR Hilux. Sébastien Loeb and Édouard Boulanger’s Dacia also paused twice but was soon back on track. Ekstrom still led Dumas and Sainz in a Ford 1-2-3 at 200 km from Variawa, his Portuguese teammates João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro, de Mevius and Botterill.
The order behind the leading Fords ebbed and flowed with Ferreira emerging best of the rest at the finish with American Seth Quintero and Andrew Short’s Overdrive Hilux up to fifth from de Mevius, Botterill, Variawa, Loeb and Roma. Overall leaders, Al-Attiyah, and Fabian Lurquin’s Dacia Sandrider came home 14th after a tough day opening the road behind Wednesday winners, Frenchmen Mathieu Serradori and Loïc Minaudier’s Century Factory CR-7, who scrapped to 17th on the day with SA teammates Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer provisionally 26th.
Botterill in the top ten again Thursday
Nani Roma took four minutes out of Nasser Al Attiyah’s overall lead to sit 8 minutes 40 behind, with Sebastian Loeb up to third a further ten minutes adrift. Ford men Mattias Ekstrom and Carlos Sainz sit fourth and fifth with Serradori’s Made in South Africa a splendid sixth. After Lategan’s issues, Aussie former bike winner Toby Price and Armand Monleon’s Overdrive version is the best of the Toyota Hiluxes in eighth from Variawa, Botterill and Quinteiro.
Further back, Dutch driver Paul Sperings looked to be en route to a hat trick of T3 Challenger wins as Pau Navarro continues to lead overall. Jerome Gonzales led T4 SSV after WRX champion Johan Kristofferson led most of the way, but Brock Heger is dominating overall. Leader Rokas Baciuska was once again head of Defender teammates Stephane Peterhansel and Sara Price in Stock, and Kay Huznik continued to surprise in front of the Trucks, which Vitor Zala leads overall.
It’s all to do for Luciano Benavides!
Getting back to the motorcycles, Utah, US rider Skyler Howes led the way through the first waypoint aboard his Honda Factory CRF450 from Wednesday winner, his French teammate, Adrien van Beveren and Factory KTM duo, Spanish Rally GP rookie Édgar Canet and second overall Argentine Luciano Benavides.
Overall leader, Californian Ricky Brabec rode sixth ahead of Spanish Honda teammate Tosha Schareina, while Slovenian Toni Mulec led Rally 2 from South African Michael Docherty’s similar KTM. Canet and Brabec moved up to second and third as the day progressed before Brabec moved into second to consolidate his lead over Benavides in sixth.
Docherty followed from Durban Sherco Factory Rally GP ace Bradley Cox and Rally 2 challenger Neels Theric, who restarted after a Wednesday issue on his Kove. Survivors, Motswana Ross Branch followed in tenth aboard his Hero Moto and first week star and 2025 winner Daniel Sanders was 14th on his KTM.
Brabec mere seconds away from Bike lead
Sanders raced the day win, but there was drama behind. Brabec lost three minutes to drop behind van Beveren, Canet, notably Benavides and Schareina. Cox and Branch found pace at the end to seventh and eighth, while Mulec and Honda rider Martim Ventura deposed Docherty for the Rally 2 1-2 with all of six seconds between the three. Original fighters, Spaniard Joao Pedro’s Husqvarna took the no service win to close his overall deficit to down to 10 seconds off leader, Frenchman Benjamin Melot.
The upshot is that Luciano Benavides and his KTM have moved back into the lead by all of 23 seconds over Honda man Brabec. Schareina remains third, fifteen minutes behind from Sanders, Howes and van Beveren. Ross Branch (below) sits eighth behind Chilean Hero Moto teammate Ignacio Cornejo, with Cox ninth in Rally GP. There was also a change in Rally 2 overall as Toni Mulec moved into a two and a half minute lead over Honda lad Preston Campbell and Melot leads Pedrero in Original.
415 kilometres of Dakar 2026 remains on Friday and Saturday starting with 310 km back to Yanbu on Friday before a tricky final 105 km loop to the finish there on Saturday 17 January with several class wins still very much in the line. Your Dakar Report is powered by Toyota Gazo Racing and Tork Craft tools.
