DAKAR 2026

SSV: Kyle Chaney and Jacob Argubright(Can-Am Factory Team) win the seventh stage

With things starting to take shape but too early to draw conclusions, it was another good stage for the Portuguese, with Monteiro and Morais on the podium, overtaken in the final minutes of the special stage by the Chaney/Argubright duo(image above), who in turn finished 7 seconds behind the winners Ferioli/Rinaldi, showing how close things still are in the class.

Just one place lower, in 5th, was Gonçalo Guerreiro, with Pinto/Oliveira and Dias/Jordão right after in 8th, both recovering positions, with the Rodrigues/Reis duo, 20 minutes behind, falling to 14th now.

The Polaris of Martins/Adão is in contention somewhere around 25th position, the Angolans Silva and Albuquerque are still holding on in 34th with only 38 teams remaining in the class.

In the Challenger category, things are tight, with Carneiro/Mota in 14th place, having lost a position in the final kilometers, and Gonçalves/Magalhães following in 15th.

Trucks: Žala wins duel against Loprais

Vaidotas Žala(image above) showed strength in the dunes of Saudi Arabia and won the 7th stage of the 2026 Dakar Rally in the timed section between Riyadh and Wadi ad-Dawasir. Even closely followed by Aleš Loprais, the Lithuanian finished the special with a 1min23s advantage and took the stage this Sunday (11).

Martin Macík reacted after a frustrating 6th stage and finished the section in third, 4min58s behind the leader. Kay Huzink appeared in fourth, with the leader of the general classification, Mitchel van den Brink, closing the group of the top five in the time table.

Gert Huzink came right behind, in sixth, followed by Martin Soltys, Martin van den Brink, Richard De Groot and Dark Lysek completing the top-10 in the Saudi dunes.

The stage did not take the lead away from Van den Brink, but it reduced the difference between the Eurol rider and Macík from 35min24s to 28min45s in the overall standings. With the victory, Žala surpassed Loprais in the time table and is now third in the competition.

The 2026 Dakar Rally continues on Monday (12), with the riders covering a timed section of 481 kilometers in Wadi ad-Dawasir, valid for the 8th stage of the competition. In stages 9 and 10, the competitors face another marathon to Bisha.

by Autonews