Dakar’s 2026 game of ping pong continued apace as Thursday’s later starters, who finished well back on Wednesday, once again trounced the cars that dominated on the previous day. Although the field was far tighter, Spanish Ford Raptor crew Nani Roma and Álex Haro started 15th and shadowed Tuesday winners US crew Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch, who set off in sixteenth, to steal the day win, only to be relegated back to second behind the Americans on a penalty.
Czech Raptor privateers Martin Prokop and Viktor Chytka made it a Ford 1-2-3 ahead of fourteenth starters, Brazilian Lucas Moraes, and Dennis Zenz’ Dacia Sandrider. Two more Raptors followed to once again paint Dakar Ford blue on its alternative day. Germans Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist started 12th and benefited Spanish teammates Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz taking a penalty after starting 13thto grab fifth. Joao Portuguese Joao Ferreira and Felipe Palmero’s SVR Hilux followed from Simon Vitse and Max Delfino’s MD Optimus, while South African Guy Botterill and Spaniard Oriol Mena’s SVR Hilux came from 29th to ninth, and American Seth Quintero and Andrew Short’s Overdrive Hilux closed off the top ten.
Like on Wednesday, the Cars, and Bikes raced on separate routes, which meant that the leading cars did not have the advantage of bike tracks to follow. But with the race heading into the deep desert and dunes, there were also less rocks and hopefully fewer punctures to allow the car crews to just race. Some say that the extremely advanced Ultimate machines have become so advanced, that they have left the tyre technology behind. Which is why the likes of 2025 winner, home hero Yazeed Al Rajhi was forced to retire when he ran out of spare wheels on Wednesday.
All of which meant that best of Wednesday’s top ten, Frenchmen Sebastien Loeb and Eduard Boulanger went from fifth to eleventh on Thursday. Teammates Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin’s Dacia Sandrider managed 14th from second, Wednesday winners South Africans Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings’ Overdrive Hilux haemorrhaged twelve minutes opening the road en route to 16th., and third men Mical Goczal and Diego Ortega’s Hilux only managed 22nd .
Through all that and despite opening the road on virgin terrain, Lategan and expert navigator Cummings raced home without issues to still emerge overall leaders on Thursday. They will likely score when they run in the pack on Friday’s 340 km run to Riyadh with bike tracks to follow once again, ahead of Saturday’s well-earned rest day. Which leaves a most interesting strategic battle between the alternate day flyers, Lategan and Cummings, Al Attiyah and Lurquin in second, fourth men Roma and Haro and Guthrie and Wallach now sixth, and several crews who seem to be pacing their way through Dakar 2026.
Ever consistent Ekstrom and Bergqvist in third overall, have placed fifth, thirteenth, fifth, twelfth and fifth over the five days of Dakar 2026 so far. Sainz and Boulanger have ended 8th, 7th, 16th, seventh and sixth to sit fifth. Loeb and Boulanger, Serradori and Minaudier, and South African Champion Saood Variawa and Frenchman Francois Cazalet’s SVR Gazoo Toyota Hilux, among others, have also placed consistently inside or around the top ten to sit within twenty minutes, or so, of the violently fluctuating race lead. This battle of wits promises to be a most intriguing aspect of the final week of Dakar 2026.
Elsewhere, Saudi heroine Dania Akeel led Chilean Lucas del Rio and fellow Saudi overall leader Yasir Seaidan and in the T3 Challengers. Americans Kyle Chaney Can Am and overall leader Brock Heger’s Polaris and Portuguese driver Joao Monteiro fought over the T4 Side by Side lead throughout special. Defender trio US lass Sara Price and Sean Berriman, Frenchman Stéphane Peterhansel and Michaël Metge and class leaders Lithuanian Rokas Baciuska and Oriol Vidal were once again in control in the Stock category, and Dutchman Mitchel van den Brink led Czech MMT teammate and overall leader Martin Macik and Ales Loprais’ Iveco in the Trucks.
