Ekstrom, Ford surge as Dakar Rally resumes

The second half of the Dakar Rally kicked off Sunday after the traditional halfway point rest day, with a long, demanding route from Riyadh to Wadi Ad-Dawasir featuring a 459-km (285-mile) special stage, testing drivers and riders with fast valleys, dunes and technical terrain. Among the Ultimate class contenders, the Ford Raptor team coped with the multi-faceted challenge best, proving that they remain a threat for overall honors in the six remaining stages.

Mattias Ekstrom led the way, taking his seventh career Dakar stage win, The Swedish winner of the prologue swooped in to steal the win after Toyota's Henk Lategan hit trouble in the final stretch. Toyota's João Ferreira and Ford's Mitch Guthrie Jr. followed 4m27s and 4m55s behind, respectively. Ekstrom has never been too far from the lead since the rally began in Yanbu. Today, everything fell into place for him to move up to second in the provisional standings, where he now trails Dacia's Nasser Al Attiyah by 4m47s.

"I thought it was a very flat and fast special. We weren't expecting a special like this one," admitted Ekstrom. "It's not the best profile when you're starting from behind, but that's the way it is – we did our best. I didn't have the pace in the dunes and ran into some dust in the second half, so it was hard to do something. But that's how it works when you start far behind."

While Al Attiyah only finished 11th today, he still was aided by the wind that sweeps Wadi ad-Dawasir. The Qatari's closest rival, Lategan, was on the verge of wresting the overall lead from him for the vast majority of the stage, when disaster struck at km 428 and the South African had to stop for almost 10 minutes to effect repairs. As a result the Hilux driver slid to fourth on the stage and in the provisional rankings, 7m21s behind Al Attiyah, while Ford's Nani Roma moved up to third. The Catalan cut a minute off his deficit to Al Attiyah (7m15s) and, unlike his Raptor teammate, he will have a great start position in the longest special of the 2026 Dakar tomorrow.

After clashing with Rokas Baciuska throughout the stage, Stéphane Peterhansel overcame his Lithuanian Defender Rally teammate in the final kilometers and pulled away to claim the Stock special by 21s. This is the Frenchman's third stage win of the year, which puts him level with his American teammate Sara Price. Nevertheless, Baciuska remains the overall leader by a healthy 44-minute margin over Peterhansel, who like Price has been unable thus far to make up much of the time lost to multiple early punctures.

Luciano Benavides soaks up the dunes en route to an impressive stage win. Florent Gooden/DPPI/Red Bull Content Pool

Luciano Benavides made the most of the challenging terrain to make up significant ground in the motorcycle class. The Red Bull KTM rider completed the rather fast course of the special in four hours, romping home with 4m47s to spare over Edgar Canet and 4m57s over Adrien Van Beveren to take his seventh stage win. Benavides is still third overall after his show of strength, but a mere 15 seconds from America's Ricky Brabec.

His KTM teammate Daniel Sanders retained his provisional lead, but a third place today will put him at a disadvantage tomorrow compared to his closest pursuer. Monster Energy Honda's Brabec (+4m25s) will start the next stage in 10th position, 21 minutes after the Australian. The American is known for his strategic acumen and could turn that situation to his advantage.

"I made one mistake at the start and lost two or three minutes, unfortunately," related Sanders. "It was hard to catch the guys in front because there was such a fast navigation track and it was really hard to make a difference. After the second refuel, the guys pulled over and waited for me, calculating the bonus. I just put the hammer down and checked away from them to make sure they didn't get any bonus. I feel good today. I'm ready for the big day tomorrow."

America's Brock Heger settled for a fourth-place run today in the SSV class, but the RZR Factory Racing rider maintained his big overall lead, now over fellow countryman Kyle Chaney. The Can-Am rider is 40m43s back after placing second to Jeremias Gonzale Ferioli on today's stage, while Heger's teammate Xavier de Soultrait has slipped to third overall, 44m15s down.