DAKAR 2026

The rocks hold back Sainz and elevate Al-Attiyah

The nightmare of the rocks is over for the Dakar riders (awaiting what the 11th stage holds) and the balance was positive for Sainz...until today, when perhaps he lost more time than he would have liked.

Yesterday, the Madrid rider made sure to avoid losing more time and starting further back today... and proved that this was the key. Because the favorites who started further back (Quintero, Lategan, Al-Rajhi...) took the opportunity to recover.

Sainz gives up trying to gain five minutes against Al-Attiyah.

Sainz/Cruz lost more than five minutes to Al-Attiyah, the new leader of the race... and all because of punctures. The Spanish duo suffered two punctures, one before the pit stop and another after, the latter a slow puncture that forced them to stop again.

However, Nasser Al-Attiyah didn't have that setback, nor did Loeb. That's why, despite starting second on a difficult day to lead the race, he performed so well. So well, in fact, that he is the new leader of the race, just seven seconds ahead of Quintero(image above).

Nani Roma had a difficult day with punctures: "It was one of those stages that we don't like to face, with constant stress. We had a puncture at kilometer 20, another at kilometer 80, and that's when I ran out of tires. Fortunately, we managed to change them at the service station. At least we managed to overcome those days that worried us a lot with punctures."

The third day of the Dakar Rally was by far the best for Toyota. The first four places and seven of the top ten were cars from the Japanese team. The Hiluxes handled the initial rocky terrain well, with only Lategan suffering the dreaded two punctures that leave the driver stranded (Dakar cars only have two spare tires). Quintero and Price had no punctures, and Al-Rajhi only had to stop once to change a tire.

Tomorrow, the third stage of the 2026 Dakar Rally takes place, a circular route around Al-Ula, totaling 666 kilometers, of which 422 will be timed sections. Nasser Al-Attiyah described this stage as "the key to the Dakar. It's a very complicated area to travel through... and it's not going to be an easy day."

Dakar 2026: Overall vehicle classification, stage 2

Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia) 7h 12h16

Seth Quintero (Toyota) at 7 seconds.

Guillaume De Mevius (Mini) at 1:09

Henk Lategan (Toyota) at 1:28

Sébastien Loeb (Dacia) at 1:57

João Ferreira (Toyota) at 2:01

Toby Price (Toyota) at 2:42

Mattias Ekström (Ford) at 4:04

Saood Variawa (Toyota) at 4:34

Carlos Sainz (Ford) at 6:35

Daniel Sanders beats Edgar Canet and Lorenzo Santolino leaves the 2026 Dakar Rally

preventing the third championship for Spaniard Edgar Canet, who finished second today, after becoming the youngest winner in the rally's history by winning the prologue and repeating the feat yesterday by winning the second stage. Spaniard Tosha Schareina finished in fifth place and remains fourth in the overall standings.

The bad news is that Lorenzo Santolino, from Castile and León, had to abandon the race due to an accident. He is fine, but his Sherco is too damaged to continue in the race.

With the standard starting order defined — based on the positions of the previous day — Edgar Canet had the mission of opening the track ahead of Daniel Sanders, who only caught up with him almost halfway through the special stage. From then on, the question was whether they could work together to avoid being overtaken by the official Hondas of Ricky Brabec and Tosha Schareina.

Unlike the KTM duo, the Honda duo never joined forces, and although Brabec came close to taking the lead, it was the two riders from the Austrian brand who crossed the finish line in first place, maintaining their perfect record of victories in this edition.

After deducting 4:04 in bonus time, Daniel Sanders recorded a time of 4 hours, 13 minutes and 37 seconds in the 400-kilometer special stage between Yanbu and AlUla, finishing one minute and 35 seconds ahead of Edgar Canet, who had accumulated up to 5:42 in bonus time.

Just 1 minute and 46 seconds behind the winner (and eleven seconds behind Canet) was the American Ricky Brabec, with his compatriot Skyler Howes taking fourth place, ahead of his teammate Tosha Schareina, who finished 3 minutes and 34 seconds behind. Portuguese rider Martim Ventura placed a fourth factory Honda among the top six to win the Rally2 class.

Right behind him came Ross Branch from Botswana, with South African Michael Docherty almost six minutes ahead of two of the big favorites for the overall victory: Argentinian Luciano Benavides and Frenchman Adrien Van Beveren, who completed the top 10 and are confirmed as the slowest riders from the official KTM and Honda teams, respectively.

However, all eyes were on Lorenzo Santolino, who didn't show up for WP26...and his withdrawal was finally confirmed. Among the other Spanish riders in the 2026 Dakar Rally, the positive news is the debut of Arnau Lledó, who finished in 30th place, with Josep Pedró in 35th and Javi Vega in 36th (fourth and fifth in the Original category).

DAKAR 2026 - STAGE 2 RESULTS:

1 Daniel SANDERS KTM 4h13'37''

2 Edgar CANET KTM + 1'35''

3 Ricky BRABEC Honda + 1'46''

4 Skyler HOWES Honda + 3'15''

5 Tosha SCHAREINA Honda + 3'34''

6 Martim VENTURA Honda + 3'53''

7 Ross BRANCH Hero + 3'56''

8 Michael DOCHERTY KTM + 5'48''

9 Luciano BENAVIDES KTM + 7'11''

10 Adrien VAN BEVEREN Honda + 8'58''

Autonews and Mundoquatrorodas