The final stage before Rest Day at the 2026 Dakar Rally took the convoy deep into the sand dunes of Saudi Arabia’s Qassim region. Mighty yellow mountains stretched out in every direction creating navigation headaches throughout the 331-kilometre special stage. The prize waiting at the end of Stage 6 was a richly deserved day off in the Kingdom’s capital city Riyadh.
Riyadh, KSA – January 09/10, 2026: Climbing his way to the top of the Ultimate class rankings in time for Rest Day was five-time Dakar winner Nasser Al-Attiyah. The Dacia driver is regarded as one of the best-ever to race on sand so this stage of dunes was right up his street. Al-Attiyah will now be able to attack from a position of strength when the rally restarts on Sunday.
“I’m happy to lead the rally at the Rest Day. Now we’ll work on our strategy for next week. It will be a close fight until the end. It was not an easy first week, but we managed without any problems.” – Nasser Al-Attiyah
Al-Attiyah’s closest competitor remains Henk Lategan of Toyota Gazoo Racing. The South African was reminded of racing in the vast desert of the Empty Quarter while driving Stage 6. Lategan will kick off this Dakar’s final week with a deficit of six minutes to make up on Al-Attiyah.
“It was a full dune stage and a tricky day for us. We might as well have been in the Empty Quarter. We were on Nasser’s pace until we made a couple of mistakes with the lines we took over the dunes. We’ll restart the rally with a good road position so let’s see what happens.” – Henk Lategan
Completing the overall Ultimate podium tonight is a bonafide Dakar legend. Nani Roma is one of only three racers to win the Dakar on both two wheels and four. Roma parks his Ford Raptor in third place after racing thousands of kilometres and with thousands more kilometres still to come. The Spaniard is joined at the business end of the general classification by fellow Ford M-Sport drivers Carlos Sainz, Mattias Ekström and Mitch Guthrie Jr.
“It was a tough day just like we expected it to be, but we had a great pace. We’re happy with our results so far. We’ve won two of six stages and we’re in a good spot to fight for the win. I’m very happy with the first week and very happy to make it to the Rest Day.” – Mitch Guthrie Jr.
It’s impossible for everything to go smoothly at the Dakar Rally. Experiencing more than their fair share of bad luck in the first week has been Guillaume De Mévius and co-driver Mathieu Baumel in a MINI JCW Rally 3.0i. After winning Stage 1 this duo have endured a succession of tough days in the desert. The pair have stood up to every challenge the Dakar has thrown at them so far, remarkable considering it’s four-time winner Baumel’s first attempt at the rally as an amputee.
“It’s not been the best first week. It started well, but then we had four days in a row with issues. Today we had another issue in the car and had to stop. We lost 30 minutes. We’ll now take some rest and reset for the second week.” – Guillaume De Mévius
It’s been an eventful debut week at the Dakar for the Defender Rally Team. It was impossible to know what to expect from the Defender Dakar D7X‑R until rubber hit the road, but after six stages the team are dominating the Stock class. Entering into a division reserved for production models looks to have been the correct decision for Defender. Also a wise move was recruiting an all-star driver line-up including 14-time Dakar winner Stéphane ‘Monsieur Dakar’ Peterhansel.
“After one week off racing we’re super happy because we’ve had all different types of terrain. We’ve had fast tracks, rocky tracks and today a really beautiful stage of sand. In all conditions the Defender is super nice to drive and super fast. We had all three Defenders driving together at the end of Stage 6 as the sun was setting on the dunes.” – Stéphane Peterhansel
The fastest biker on Stage 6 was reigning Dakar champion Daniel Sanders of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. However, following the stage the Australian rider was hit with a six-minute speeding penalty for exceeding the limit in a restricted zone. Despite the penalty Sanders still leads the overall bike rankings, but only by 45 seconds from Honda rival Ricky Brabec.
“It was so tough out front today. I think I got a speed penalty so that’ll set me back a fair bit. I’ve got to stop making silly mistakes. Without the penalty I’d be super happy with how I rode today’s stage. Let’s see what we can do in the second week.” – Daniel Sanders
Sanders has his fellow Red Bull KTM Factory Racing riders in the peloton for support in the second week if required. Luciano Benavides and Edgar Canet have both been on an emotional rollercoaster during their own first weeks, especially Canet who suffered a blown out tyre on yesterday’s marathon stage.
“Yesterday was not a good day for me and I didn’t sleep well. Getting up at 3am this morning was tough. The plan was to get this stage finished and reach the Rest Day. The aim is to start the second week like how I started the first week at this Dakar.” – Edgar Canet
A third consecutive Challenger class podium finish has seen Saudi Arabian driver Dania Akeel end her week in style. Joining Akeel on the podium today was Challenger class debutant and birthday boy Kevin Benavides. Two-time bike race winner Kevin (older brother of Luciano) has been gradually improving as he races his first Dakar on four wheels.
“We had issues with the car on days two, three and four so we lost a lot of time. We also started the marathon stage at the back so we had to deal with a lot of dust. Today was sand and I really enjoyed it. We had one puncture and without this we may have won the stage.” – Kevin Benavides
In the SSV race we’ve witnessed incredible fight backs from two-time category winner Francisco ‘Chaleco’ López and also class rookie Gonçalo Guerreiro. López took third place on Stage 6 with Guerreiro just a minute behind. Both drivers will have their sights firmly fixed on the overall SSV podium when racing resumes with a 462-kilometre special stage from Riyadh to Wadi Ad-Dawasir.
“I expect a tough second week. The first week was a mess with so many rocks and so many punctures. We were nearly out of the race, but we could fix it. We lost one hour to the leader, but everything can happen at the Dakar.” – Gonçalo Guerreiro
Competitors take a well earned day off from racing tomorrow and get the chance to explore Saudi Arabia’s magnificent capital city. Meanwhile, mechanics get busy tuning up race vehicles for a second week of intense off-road action. With over 2,500 kilometres still to race the 2026 Dakar Rally is far from over, in many ways it’s only just getting started. Leading competitors will take time to study the leaderboards and work on a winning strategy for the remaining seven Dakar stages.
Dakar Rally standings after Stage 6
(https://www.dakar.com/en/rankings)
ULTIMATE – Top 3 plus selected
1. N. Al-Attiyah (QAT) / F. Lurquin (BEL) – Dacia 24:18:29
2. H. Lategan (ZAF) / B. Cummings (ZAF) – Toyota +06:10
3. N. Roma (ESP) / A. Haro (ESP) – Ford +09:13
4. C. Sainz (ESP) / L. Cruz (ESP) – Ford +11:49
5. M. Ekström (SWE) / E. Bergvist (SWE) – Ford +12:11
6. S. Loeb (FRA) / É. Boulanger (FRA) – Dacia +17:36
7. M. Guthrie Jr. (USA) / K. Walch (USA) – Ford +21:49
10. L. Moraes (BRA) / D. Zenz (GER) – Dacia +26:46
13. C. Gutiérrez (ESP) / P. Moreno (ESP) – Dacia +33:15
15. T. Price (AUS) / A. Monleón (ESP) – Toyota +39:02
18. L. Sanz (ESP) / M. Gerini (ITA) – Ebro +01:04:31
19. S. Quintero (USA) / A. Short (USA) – Toyota +01:09:44
31. G. De Mévius (BEL) / M. Baumel (FRA) – MINI +06:13:37
STOCK – Top 3
1. R. Baciuška (LTU) / O. Vidal (ESP) – Defender 29:12:58
2. S. Peterhansel (FRA) / M. Metge (FRA) – Defender +44:43
3. S. Price (USA) S. Berriman (USA) / – Defender +02:30:03
BIKE RallyGP – Top 3 plus selected
1. D. Sanders (AUS) – KTM 24:41:00
2. R. Brabec (USA) – Honda +00:45
3. L. Benavides (ARG) – KTM +10:15
11. E. Canet (ESP) – KTM +10:57:27
CHALLENGER – Top 3 plus selected
1. P. Navarro (ESP) / J. Rosa (ESP) – Taurus 26:46:17
2. N. Cavigliasso (ARG) / V. Pertegarini (ARG) – Taurus +04:57
3. Y. Seaidan (KSA) / X. Flick (FRA) – Taurus +25:54
9. D. Akeel (KSA) / S. Delaunay (FRA) – Taurus +02:12:16
14. K. Benavides (ARG) / L. Sisterna (ARG) – Taurus +03:39:28
SSV – Top 3 plus selected
1. B. Heger (USA) / M.Eddy (USA) – Polaris 26:56:33
2. X. De Soultrait (FRA) / M. Bonnet (FRA) – Polaris +32:20
3. K. Chaney (USA) / J. Argubright (USA) – Can-Am +53:18
5. G. Guerreiro (POR) / M. Justo (BRA) – Polaris +01:16:36
6. F. López (CHI) / A. León (CHI) – Can-Am +01:44:57
9. J. Krisstoffersson (SWE) / O. Floene (NOR) – Polaris +02:52:30
AVAILABLE CONTENT
(free content for editorial use – no restrictions)
– News Cuts (Jan 03, 10 & 17) in 16:9 and „daily” Social News Clips in 9:16 (English/clean), featuring key action and interviews + shot list, transcript, and media information. MI and SI assets via: RED BULL CONTENT POOL
News Cut (direct)
–> Red Bull Content Pool
Contact: Fabian Ress
fabian.ress@3mpg.ch / +49 173 248 8404
_____
Images free of charge for editorial use.
Credit: Red Bull Content Pool