Daniel Sanders maintains 2026 Dakar lead but Honda makes its move on Stage 3

Daniel Sanders continues to lead the RallyGP class at the 2026 Dakar Rally despite missing out on stage victory on Tuesday.

Sanders was the leading KTM rider on Stage 3 of the 2026 Dakar Rally in Al-Ula, but only third-fastest overall behind the HRC duo of the victorious Toscha Schareina and second-fastest Ricky Brabec.

Schareina’s performance was dominant, winning by 2’17’’ over Brabec, and with 3’28’’ back to Sanders. 

It’s Brabec who is now closest to Sanders in the overall classification, however, the American 1’07’’ behind the Australian. Schareina is now third and a further six seconds off the win.

Edgar Canet had been the star of the rally in the opening days, winning both the Prologue and Stage 1. The Spaniard, competing in RallyGP for the first time at this year’s edition of the Dakar, was only seventh-fastest in Stage 3 and now sits fourth in the overall classification and over eight minutes off the lead.

The third factory KTM rider, Luciano Benavides, had his best stage result of the rally so far in fourth. The Argentine is now fifth overall and 11 minutes behind his teammate, Sanders.

Stages four and five will also take place in Al-Ula, each being a part of this year’s Marathon segment. Wednesday’s Stage 4 will contain 451 timed kilometres, while Thursday’s Stage 5 – from Al-Ula to Hail – features 351km of special.

In the Ultimate car class, Ford’s Mitch Guthrie won the stage (a first stage win of his career) and took the overall lead with it, despite a 10-second penalty. He now leads Martin Prokop, also in a Ford, by 26 seconds. Fords also complete the top-five, with the factory cars of Mattias Ekstrom, Carlos Sainz, and Nani Roma in third through fifth, despite a 10-second penalty for Sainz and a 20-second penalty for Ekstrom in Tuesday’s Stage 3.

The leading non-Ford, the Dacia of Lucas Moraes, is now over five minutes off the lead in sixth, and over a minute behind fifth-placed Roma.

It marks a substantial change in the order established after the first two full stages of the rally, after which Dacia’s Nasser Al-Attiyah led Toyota’s Seth Quintero by seven seconds, and Guillaume de Mevius of X-Raid completed the top-three. 

After Stage 2, the top-placed Ford was Ekstrom in eighth, and Guthrie was down in 14th, 10 minutes off the lead.

Stage 3 saw a puncture for de Mevius, while Al-Attiyah dropped 22 minutes to Guthrie, who now leads the Dakar for the first time in his career.

2025 winner Yazeed Al-Rajhi is now 19th after his substantial penalty from Monday and now almost 30 minutes off the lead.