What Dakar 2026 Stage 8 Car Report
Where Wadi ad-Dawasir, Saudi Arabia
When Sunday 11 January 2026
Community International
Off the hook Attiyah leads Ekstrom, Lategan after seven days
German Factory Ford Raptor duo, Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist benefited last sector dramas for South Africans Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings’ Overdrive Toyota Hilux to win the seventh stage of the 2026 Dakar Rally. Lategan and Cummings’ had dominated the day to move ahead of Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin in to the virtual overall lead, but the Toyota duo lost time to a damper issue in the final 50 kilometres to allow Ekstrom to take the day and pass them overall, and Attiyah back into the race lead.
65 of the 72 Ultimate, and 187 of the original 202 four wheelers that started the race on Saturday 3 January, lined up to commence the second week of the 2026 Dakar Rally. They faced a varied 459 kilometre day of fast and sandy tracks as well as third of the distance across the dunes en route to Wadi ad-Dawasir on Sunday.
Friday winners and overall leaders, Qatari five-time Dakar winner Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin’s Dacia Sandrider led the field away, but there was a pleasant surprise as Frenchmen Mathieu Serradori and Loïc Minaudier were quickest through the first waypoint in their Made in SA Century Factory CR-7. German Raptor duo Ekström and Bergkvist and two Overdrive Gazoo Toyota Hiluxes, American Seth Quintero and Andrew Short and Lategan and Cummings followed.
Lategan and Ekstrom then fought over the lead with Quinteiro in chase before Lategan opened a gap. Aussie former bike winner Toby Price and Armand Monleon were up to fourth in another Overdrive Hilux from at 100 km. Lategan relentlessly piled on the pace to grab the virtual lead at the 339 km eighth waypoint but hit his damper trouble in the final sector to plummet down the field.
That left Ekstrom to take the day and become the first driver to win more than once in 2026, from Portuguese SVR Hilux crew, João Ferreira and Filipe Palmeiro, US Factory Ford Raptor men Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch, Price’s Hilux, French nine-time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb and Édouard Boulangers’ Dacia and Quinteiro’s Hilux. Serradori followed in eighth in the Century from Spanish Ford Raptor crews Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz and Nani Roma and Álex Haro.
Lategan’s delay allowed Al Attiyah to regain the overall advantage by almost five minutes from Ekstrom and Roma. Lategan now rides seven minutes adrift in fourth from Sainz, Loeb, Guthrie and Serradori. South Africans, Guy Botterill and Saood Variawa’s Toyotas were 14th and 15th, and Brian Baragwanath 22nd in his Century. Variawa sits 12th, Botterill 17th and Baragwanath 21st overall.
Bike convert Kevin Benavides led overall leader Dani Akeel and Ignacio Casale in T3 Unlimited, while T4 Side by Sides overall leader Brock Heger was ahead of Chaleco Lopez and Joao Monteiro in the. Stock overall leader Rokas Baciuska once again led a Land Rover Defender 1-2-3 over teammates Stéphane Peterhansel and Sara Price, and overall leaders Ales Loprais and Vaidotas Sala’s Ivecos led the way in the trucks.
Monday brings the longest special of Dakar 2025 in a 481 km loop around Wadi ad-Dawasir
Issued on behalf of Dakar 2026 Cars Daily
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