Lead change on 2026 Dakar Rally as win contender stops to help rival

The 2026 Dakar Rally offered up another major twist on Wednesday as Ricky Brabec took the lead from Daniel Sanders.

Sanders led Brabec by 6’39’’ after Tuesday’s Stage 9, but crashed on the second half of this week’s Marathon, Stage 10, and is now 17’37’’ behind the American and down in fourth overall.

The Australian’s hopes of clawing back the time lost today in the remaining three stages are also dashed by injuries he’s picked up in the crash. His target now is on finishing the rally.

Ricky Brabec was filmed by a TV helicopter stopping to help Sanders on the stage when he came across the crashed KTM rider.

Honda’s Brabec was able to record the second-fastest time and carries the lead into Thursday.

He’s now 56 seconds ahead of Luciano Benavides, and the two are 15 minutes clear of Toscha Schareina who is back on the overall podium despite being only eighth on Stage 10. 

Assuming Sanders will be forced to drop back with his shoulder injury, Schareina should be fairly safe in that third spot, with Skyler Howes on the third HRC bike over 23 minutes behind him.

Behind, Adrien van Beveren has overhauled Nacho Cornejo for sixth after the South African recorded his first stage win of the 2026 Dakar. He’s 20 minutes behind teammate Howes.

After losing the lead on Tuesday, Nasser Al-Attiyah regained it on Wednesday in the Ultimate class. The Dacia driver is now 12 minutes clear of Henk Lategan with three stages to go after finishing second on Stage 10.

It was another tough day for the Ford drivers coming after a positive previous stage. Nani Roma led after Stage 9 but was only 11th fastest and 20 minutes off the stage winning time of Matthieu Serradori on Stage 10. The Spaniard is now third overall and 12’50’’ off the lead.

Things were even worse for Carlos Sainz and Mattias Ekstrom, both running into trouble on Wednesday and finishing 22nd and 52nd, respectively. 

Sainz in particular had been consistently ticking off the stages so far, but he now finds himself 39 minutes off the lead three stages from the finish. Ekstrom is only slightly better off: sixth and 34’19’’ off the lead.

Sebastien Loeb lost time to the rally lead today but gained positions, jumping up to fourth. The Frenchman is now 23 minutes behind his Dacia teammate, Al-Attiyah, and just over behind Roma in the final podium position.

Toby Price also had a tough Stage 10, dropping 40 minutes to the stage winning time. He holds on to a top-10 spot in ninth.

Thursday’s 11th stage of the rally will run for 882km, although the majority of that is liaison; 346km of special await.