DAKAR 2026

SSV: Brock Heger (RZR Polaris) consolidates Polaris' dominance

The 2026 edition of the Dakar Rally ended with the victory of American Brock Heger(image above) in the SSV category, consolidating Polaris' dominance in the Saudi event. Heger replicated his 2024 success, becoming a two-time champion and leading a podium mostly dominated by American drivers.

Brock Heger finished the 2026 Dakar at the top of the overall SSV classification, reaffirming the supremacy of the Polaris brand in the category, with the brand achieving its third consecutive victory in the event, demonstrating the technical superiority of the equipment as well as the consistency of the competitive strategy in its main teams.

The American lead extended to second place overall, where Kyle Chaney — Heger's compatriot — consolidated an impressive performance in his Dakar debut in top positions. Chaney confirmed himself as the main revelation of the event, demonstrating the potential of emerging North American drivers in the most demanding competition on the world off-road calendar.

The final podium in the category reflected the balance between experienced drivers and new talents. Joining Brock Heger (Polaris) and Kyle Chaney (Polaris) was Xavier de Soultrait (Polaris), marking his second podium finish after his victory in 2024.

TRUCKS: Žala champion, the Lithuanian had the help of navigator Paulo Fiúza and mechanic Max van Grol

After much trying, Vaidotas Žala finally achieved the long-awaited Dakar title, which saw the 48th edition of its history come to an end this Saturday (17). The Lithuanian, who had the help of navigator Paulo Fiúza and mechanic Max van Grol, highlighted the challenges of competing among the trucks and celebrated the fact that he did not make any major mistakes throughout the days of the race.

The owner of the Iveco #604 of Team De Rooy FPT won a special stage and finished the race with a total time of 56h58min38s, beating Aleš Loprais, second place, by 20min18s. Mitchel van den Brink, from MM Technology, even occupied the top of the table during the first days of activities, but suffered from car problems in the tenth stage and had to settle for third place.

Žala had already participated in ten other editions, nine of which were in the car class, where he achieved 11th place as his best result in 2022. Since last year, however, he has moved to the truck category, collecting a fifth place in 2025 and now the victory.

“I participated in the Dakar ten times (nine, actually) in the car category, but the trucks are a completely different story. I'm happy to arrive home without any problems. When I started my first Dakar, 11 years ago, my dream was just to participate, but today I won a trophy,” said the 38-year-old driver in an interview with the official Dakar website.

“Life is crazy! I think my consistency paid off. We only had to stop for 15 minutes at the beginning of the race, but my rivals had ups and downs. The Dakar is a treacherous race. A single mistake can cost you everything, so we were lucky not to make any,” he concluded.

The official dates for the 2027 Dakar Rally have not yet been released, but the trend is that it will follow the pattern of starting in the first days of January.

by Autonews