RALLY DAKAR 2026

Benavides wins spectacularly, à la Sanders, and takes the lead in the Dakar Rally

Almost no one gave Luciano Benavides (KTM) a chance in this Dakar Rally. He arrived at the race (and is still dealing with the consequences) with a torn cruciate ligament and meniscus in one of his knees.

An injury suffered in the last Morocco Rally that required surgery for recovery. But...that would mean missing the 2026 Dakar Rally. And the man from Salta opted for a heroic approach: no surgery, grit his teeth and race as best he could. Even if it meant suffering a fall in the shakedown and further aggravating the meniscus injury...

Despite everything, the second part of the Dakar Rally has an almost uncontested leader: the Argentinian. Today, he secured his third victory (the second consecutive one) in the best Sanders style: blasting his way through like a cannon and not letting anyone catch him. Not even the Australian, who started fourth and only managed to open up a 2 minute and 38 second advantage (and that was thanks to Benavides getting a little lost at the end of the day).

Thus, Benavides not only won the stage (thanks to accumulating 7:18 in bonus seconds, all possible – and, incidentally, without letting anyone gain a single second), but is also the new leader of the overall standings, just 10 seconds ahead of Sanders and 4:47 ahead of Brabec. The American started 10th, the last among the favorites, but couldn't open up enough of a lead to neutralize the Argentine's bonus seconds.

Tosha Schareina lost more time and says goodbye to his chances of winning the stage (image above) Photo: Honda HRC

Meanwhile, Tosha Schareina practically said goodbye to his chances of victory, because his gap to the three riders ahead of him in the overall standings... increased even further.

The Valencian rider lost 9:47 to Benavides, 4:57 to Sanders and 4:45 to Brabec today, and his overall advantage is now 20:13, too large to try to reverse the result, especially since not one, but three riders would have to fail... and they will be the ones fighting for the Dakar title.

Edgar Canet (KTM) was also in good form today, starting second behind Benavides and completing the 481 kilometers in the top 10, 15:06 behind his friend and teammate.

Brabec lived up to expectations and began to record the best times, but it gradually became clear that Benavides was starting to make up for lost time with bonuses, feeling more comfortable with navigation as the kilometers went by.

So much so that, although Edgar Canet was reducing the three-minute gap that separated them at the start – getting to less than two – around kilometer 100 the trend reversed and he began to distance himself more and more, until he was overtaken on the track, in the final stretch of the stage, by Daniel Sanders and Adrien Van Beveren, who started from behind.

Tomorrow marks a crucial moment in the Dakar Rally: the first part of the second marathon-refuge stage, again with separate routes for cars and motorcycles. The situation will not change much for the motorcycles, but the cars will navigate without their tracks.

In contrast, the motorcycles will have more difficulties in the bivouac, as they will not have mechanical assistance and, again, will have to take care of the tires.

Dakar Rally 2026: Motorcycle Classification, Stage 8:

Luciano Benavides (KTM) 4h 26:39

Daniel Sanders (KTM) at 4:50

Ricky Brabec (Honda) at 5:02

Tosha Schareina (Honda) at 9:47

Adrien Van Beveren (Honda) at 11:56

Skyler Howes (Honda) at 12:32

Edgar Canet (KTM) at 15:06

Nacho Cornejo (Hero) at 17:13

Neels Theric (Kov) at 19:05

Nasser Al-Attiyah maintains the lead

Despite expectations for today's stage (which has been quite complicated in the motorcycle category), the eighth stage of the Dakar Rally for cars was the most competitive of the race... even with the all-out attack from Henk Lategan (Toyota), who was determined to make up for yesterday's mistake that cost him the lead in the race.

But there weren't many differences between the favorites. In fact, the South African barely managed to open up a few seconds' advantage over Ekström (26) and Quintero (34). The difference has been more than a minute, with Al-Attiyah(image above 1:13), Sainz (1:26) and Nani Roma (2:35) being the ones who lost the most time among the favorites. Incidentally, he dropped out of the podium positions in the overall standings.

Amid this calm, Carlos Sainz completed the stage without incident, conceding only 13 seconds to Al-Attiyah... and exactly one minute to Ekström, another Ford rider he needs to keep an eye on. "It was a complicated stage, with some rocks, but we are happy to have finished it and now, on to the marathon," said the Madrid native after finally experiencing a stage without scares.

Considering the small difference between the cyclists, perhaps the key to the stage lies more in the positioning of the competitors for tomorrow than in the few seconds lost today. And this could be a very bad situation for Lategan tomorrow... while Roma, who was further back among the favorites, will have a great opportunity tomorrow to recover the lost time.

A close race was expected between Sainz, Roma, and Al-Attiyah (who started just six minutes apart), but none of them managed to catch the Madrid player, who had a disagreement with Serradori about the sentry system (the system by which the vehicle behind at a higher speed requests passage from the one in front).

Roma and Al-Attiyah, who rode together for the last 200 kilometers, had their ups and downs. "We crossed the finish line several times and made some mistakes on the dusty climb of Nasser. We lost a little time there because of the dust and because we took the wrong path, but it's part of the game and now we have to think about the marathon." As Nani rightly said, nothing serious.

Even worse was a navigation error in the final part of the stage by Loeb/Lurquin, which destabilized them. They were at the same pace as Sainz and finished at the same pace as Roma. And the Frenchman in the Dacia (17:25 behind) won't give up a single second...

Despite all this, the overall classification remains practically unchanged, with Nani Roma dropping from third to fourth position due to Lategan's rise. However, the differences between the two Spaniards and the leader haven't changed much: Roma is 9:37 behind and Sainz 10:39. But tomorrow will be a very different story.

Dakar Rally 2026: Car classification, stage 8:

Saoood Variawa (Toyota) 4h 20:35

Henk Lategan (Toyota) at 3 seconds.

Mattias Ekström (Ford) at 29s.

Seth Quintero (Toyota) at 37 seconds.

Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia) at 1:16

Carlos Sainz (Ford) at 1:29

Guillaume de Mevius (Mini) at 2:00

Sébastien Loeb (Dacia) at 3:02

Nani Roma (Ford) at 2:38

Brian Baragwanath (Century) at 2:38

Autonews and Mundoquatrorodas