DAKAR 2026

Lategan(Toyota GR), to get it right

First objective achieved for Carlos Sainz and Nani Roma: both completed the first part of the marathon seemingly without serious problems in their cars.

As for the time lost today (which was expected to be significant due to the start so far ahead)... it was indeed considerable compared to Lategan (27 minutes) or Al-Attiyah (20, who had a puncture), but not so much compared to others like Loeb (10) or Ekström (only three minutes separated the three Fords).

This confirms, as Sainz feared, that the gaps that could have been gained today were greater than those achieved yesterday (what the Madrid native himself called the yo-yo effect). Today, defeat was inevitable, and that's what happened, but the team remains in contention for the overall standings (Sainz is 15:53 ​​behind the new leader and Roma is 18:36 behind)... mainly because tomorrow the wind will be in their favor and these differences will most likely be reduced.

Dakar 2026: Car Classification, Stage 4

Henk Lategan (Toyota) 4:47.08

Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia) at 7:03

Marek Goczal (Toyota) at 14:15

Eric Goczal (Toyota) at 17:36

Sébastien Loeb (Dacia) at 17:54

Michal Goczal (Toyota) at 19:53

Toby Price (Toyota) at 20:07

Saood Variawa (Toyota) at 22:09

Mathieu Serradori (Century) at 22:34

Seth Quintero (Toyota) at 23:27

Henk Lategan(image above), runner-up in the 2016 Dakar Rally, showed himself completely ahead today, crushing all his rivals with a resounding victory that puts him in the lead. Only Nasser Al-Attiyah managed to keep up with his pace... and even then, the Qatari lost more than seven minutes. Pole Marek Goczal, in third place, is now almost fifteen minutes behind the Toyota leader, who has no option but to attack to close the gap.

Both Cristina Gutiérrez (Dacia) and Laia Sanz (Ebro) completed another dream stage, just as they did yesterday (Cristina finished in fifth place and Laia missed the chance to finish in the top ten by helping her teammate, Brian Baragwanath). Today, the cyclist from Burgos finished 15th, while the Catalan redeemed herself with a spectacular 13th place (matching her previous result).

Dakar 2026: Overall Car Classification, Stage 4

Henk Lategan (Toyota) 16:29:15

Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia) at 3:55

Mattias Ekström (Ford) at 13:00

Carlos Sainz (Ford) at 15:53

Mathieu Serradori (Century) at 16:53

Saood Variawa (Toyota) at 18:19

Nani Roma (Ford) at 18:36

Sébastien Loeb (Dacia) at 19:57

Eric Goczal (Toyota) at 21:22

Cristina Gutiérrez (Dacia) at 25:18

Tomorrow, the 5th stage, the return leg of the marathon, will be held in the same format as today: separate routes for motorcycles and cars, so that drivers who finished later can...Those who have fallen behind today have the opportunity to make up for lost time in the 372 kilometers that will make up the special stage for cars.

Tosha Schareina repeats victory and becomes co-leader of the 2026 Dakar with Ricky Brabec

Spaniard Tosha Schareina impressed in the 2016 Dakar Rally by winning his second consecutive stage, conquering the first part of the marathon stage with a six-second advantage over his teammate, American Ricky Brabec. He now shares the overall lead with Brabec (with Schareina in front after today's victory) after overtaking Australian Daniel Sanders. Spaniard Edgar Canet remains in fourth place, but is losing more time.

After securing a great stage victory yesterday, Tosha Schareina faced today's stage - a 422-kilometer special stage starting in AlUla and finishing at the refuge - with the intention of opening up a lead throughout the course; always bearing in mind that this is the first part of the marathon stage and that there will be no assistance at the bivouac tonight, so the team had to take care of the mechanics.

The plan worked perfectly: he rode alone for the entire first half until, around kilometer 200, his teammate Ricky Brabec caught up with him and they began to split the bonus points during the second half of the course, navigating wonderfully to deliver a joint blow in the race.

Since Schareina had gained a 3 minute and 10 second advantage over Brabec - who started three minutes later - he had everything in his favor to clinch the victory, recovering the lost times... if those behind him allowed it, which threatened to leave the Honda party incomplete, since another alternative was Skyler Howes, who was flying and catching up with Luciano Benavides, who had started three minutes earlier.

First, it was the extremely fast South African Michael Docherty who set the best time, but he broke a wheel and stopped at kilometer 199, having to abandon the special stage on a day with other setbacks for the "outsiders": earlier, the Czech Martin Michek had already abandoned due to technical problems and the Frenchman Mathieu Doveze due to a fall; while the Portuguese Martim Ventura lost more than an hour due to a breakdown in his Honda.

Without Docherty, the main rival for the golden wing became the Botswanan Ross Branch, who fought bravely until the end; but he did not manage to win, which went to Tosha Schareina: with a bonus of 6:26, he completed the race in 4 hours, 31 minutes and 56 seconds, beating Ricky Brabec by 6 seconds, who had compensated 3:16 for starting in the lead.

Skyler Howes finished 10 seconds behind, completing a one-two on the podium, with Ross Branch 16 seconds behind. After riding alone all day, Daniel Sanders – the overwhelming favorite for the overall victory and leader until then – finished fifth, just over two and a half minutes behind, with Nacho Cornejo and Luciano Benavides a little over three minutes behind, Edgar Canet almost four, and Adrien Van Beveren more than five.

The Rally2 category was turned upside down by the problems of Docherty and Ventura, who were in first and second place respectively, after Tobias Ebster's retirement yesterday. This paved the way for Neels Theric to secure the first special stage victory in Kove and for American rookie Preston Campbell to take the lead in the overall standings.

As for the other Spanish riders, the good news continues for the intermediate category with the first top 20 finish for rookie Junior Arnau Lledó and with Josep Pedró's victory in the Original category, which allows him to climb to the top of the standings with a 1:26 lead over Belgian Jerome Martiny and 3:54 over fellow Spaniard Javi Vega, leaving Benjamin Melot 6:19 behind and Emanuel Gyenes 9:56 behind.

DAKAR 2026 - STAGE 4 RESULTS:

1 Tosha SCHAREINA Honda 4h31'56''

2 Ricky BRABEC Honda + 6''

3 Skyler HOWES Honda + 10''

4 Ross BRANCH Hero + 16''

5 Daniel SANDERS KTM + 2'37''

6 Nacho CORNEJO Hero + 3'13''

7 Luciano BENAVIDES KTM + 3'16''

8 Edgar CANET KTM + 3'49''

9 Adrien VAN BEVEREN Honda + 5'11''

10 Neels THERIC Kove + 10'22''

Autonews and Mundoquatrorodas