Daniel Sanders is back in the lead of the 2026 Dakar Rally in the RallyGP class following the conclusion of the fifth stage.
Wednesday saw Sanders slip behind the Honda duo of Toscha Schareina and Ricky Brabec on the overall Dakar classification, the Spanish-American pair tied on time but with Schareina ahead thanks to his six-second win on Stage 4.
In the Ultimate class, Mitch Guthrie rebounded from his disappointing Stage 4 performance to win the Al-Ula – Hail stage by just over a minute ahead of Nani Roma. Roma was the fastest through the stage but picked up a 1’10’’ penalty for speeding. Martin Prokop made it an all-Ford top-three in the stage, two minutes down on Guthrie’s time.
Behind the Fords come the Dacias of Lucas Moraes and Sebastien Loeb, 17’11’’ and 17’55’’ off the lead, respectively. Mathieu Serradori and the aforementioned Prokop complete the top-10 now and are both within 20 minutes of the lead.
Friday’s sixth stage is set to head from Hail to Riyadh over a route of more than 900km in total, split between 589km of liaison and 331km of special.
