An unfortunate series of events culminated in American Honda rider Ricky Brabec’s loss in the motorcycle class of the 2026 Dakar Rally, which is being held in Saudi Arabia for the seventh consecutive year.
After two weeks of racing on countless miles of sand and rocks, Argentinian Luciano Benavides on his KTM beat American Ricky Brabec’s Honda by two seconds, the narrowest margin in the event’s history.
Brabec congratulated Benavidez. dakar
This was just the final cruel twist of fate for the Dakar.
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“I don’t know why we lost, it means nothing to me,” two-time champion Brabec said after congratulating Benavidez at the finish line.
Ah, but we have an idea. Some.
First up is the camel. Brabec spotted a herd that he estimated to be more than 50 cattle in the rocky areas of the day’s stage. He couldn’t get around them because there were big rocks on both sides of the dirt road, he couldn’t go through them because the camels were really big, and he couldn’t even blow his horn because the racing cars didn’t have horns.
“The camels were cluttering the road and I couldn’t get around them. I was like, ‘Damn, I don’t know what to do. I’m wasting my time here.'” There were about 50 camels, right? So I thought, ‘Man, I can’t get around, there are black boulders everywhere,’ and I was like, ‘If I go out and try to risk getting around the camels, I’m going to tip it (the motorcycle) over and maybe break something, twist an ankle or just something stupid,’ so I just sat behind them and I tried to get as close as I could and maybe they’d go anywhere in the rocks. But yeah, I’m a little frustrated with the situation. “
Australia’s Daniel Sanders suffered a broken collarbone and sternum. “We won’t give up,” he said. dakar
Then, on another day’s stage, Brabec stopped again, this time to help a fallen runner. Australian KTM rider Daniel Sanders suffered a fractured collarbone and sternum in an accident during the second half of Wednesday’s 138km marathon stage from Wadi ad Dawasir to Bisha, abc.au reported.
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“I came over the dune, Tosh (Spanish Honda rider Tosha Schareina) came over the dune and he (Saunders) was right under the bike and got stuck,” Brabec said. “So Tosh and I stopped. Tosh stopped at the top of the dune to make sure no one jumped down and landed on him. Then I helped Daniel in the dune.”
He solved the problem but lost the lead in the process. Saunders, ever the tough Australian, is back on the bike… Completed the stage.
“We’re not going to give up,” Sanders said.
Neither did Brabec. He regained the lead over the next few days until just two kilometers from the finish line, when he was more than three minutes ahead and just had to drive his Monster Energy Honda to the inflatable Red Bull Arch to claim his third Dakar victory, something happened.
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“I played well all day long,” Brabec said. “A route description, right here, two kilometers from the finish, I don’t know. I went to the wrong left. The route book said left, so I went left. That put me in a bad situation, and here we are.”
Dacia in the desert Dacia
Meanwhile, in the four rounds of the Dakar, Dacia won. The Dacia is one of the cheapest cars you can buy in Europe, and you’ll sigh aloud when they allot it to you at the car rental counter at Charles de Gaulle Airport. The somewhat diminutive Dacia Sandrider prototype looks like a bug, but it beat the mighty 2026 Ford Raptor T1 Ultimate Dakar Rally Car and the equally powerful (last year’s winner) Toyota Hilux.
It is driven by Qatari driver Nasser Al Attiyah, who has won the Dakar five times and won six more times this year.
Ford Raptor Racing T1+ Ford
Ford showed up at Dakar with four factory entries, and four other privateers also drove the Raptors. This is Ford’s first year as an official factory team.
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The truck has also been upgraded.
“The Ford Raptor T1+ itself represents the fullest expression of what we’ve learned over many years of desert racing,” Ford said before the race. “It’s lighter and more aerodynamically efficient, significantly improves visibility and control, and offers significant improvements in suspension performance, cockpit access and overall durability.”
Ford performed well in the early stages, trading wins with Toyota’s Hilux truck. But neither Ford nor Toyota had enough wins to stay in the lead, while Al-Attiyah kept moving up. Although he won stage two, it seemed likely that he would win it all with his victory on stage six. Although the Ford won five stages and the prologue, a navigation error by the Ford driver and Al Atiyah’s smooth running from start to finish meant the Qatari driver emerged victorious.
American Brock Heger from the Loeb Fraymedia Motorsport Polaris RZR Factory Racing team took his second Dakar victory in the category. polar star
In the SxS race, as in Baja, American Brock Heger competes in the Loeb Fraymedia Motorsport Polaris RZR Factory Racing team and won the Dakar class for the second time after an outstanding performance in the SCORE desert race in Baja.
Land Rover Defender Dakar D7X-R dakar
In the Stock category, the Defender Rally made its debut, with drivers Rokas Baciuška and Oriol Vidal winning in a Defender Dakar D7X-R. Team-mates Sara Price and Sean Berriman finished second in the Dakar Rally Stock Class classification, while “Mr Dakar” Stéphane Peterhansel and co-driver Mika Metge finished fourth.
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“The Dakar Rally is incredible,” Price said. “Our goal in the final stretch is to get to the finish line together as a team. So to see the whole back team sitting at the finish line and all their excitement and emotion, it just speaks to what it’s all about and what it means. To have this team get to the finish line in P1 and P2 was incredible.”
The same goes for the entire two-week adventure. If you can’t get enough of all this off-road gear, the SCORE King Shocks San Felipe 250 will be held in Baja March 25-29. But this is a completely different kind of racing.
