Mattias Ekstrom overpowered his Ford teammate Mitch Guthrie to claim victory in the Dakar Rally 2026 Prologue, setting the tone for an exhilarating 48th edition of the world’s toughest rally-raid event in Saudi Arabia.
The Prologue, held on January 3 around the coastal city of Yanbu, featured a compact 22km timed section within a 95km loop, designed to test drivers’ and riders’ precision on a mix of sandy tracks, rocky outcrops, and technical turns without creating massive time gaps.
The short but demanding test determined the starting order for the subsequent stages, rewarding the top 10 in each category with the privilege of choosing their positions, a strategic element that could prove pivotal in the dust-choked early days of the rally.
In the car category, dominated by the Ultimate class with 72 entries, Mattias Ekstrom piloted the V8-powered Ford Raptor T1+ to a blistering time of 10 minutes and 48.7 seconds, marking his third Prologue win in five Dakar appearances following previous successes with Audi in 2023 and 2024.
His teammate Mitch Guthrie followed just eight seconds adrift in second, securing a dominant Ford lockout that underscores the American manufacturer’s growing ambitions in its second factory Dakar campaign under M-Sport management.
Guillaume de Mevius in the X-raid Mini slotted into third, just two-tenths behind Guthrie, with navigator Mathieu Baumel— a four-time Dakar winner who remarkably returned after losing his right leg in a 2025 accident—providing flawless co-driving.
Nasser Al-Attiyah, the Qatari legend synonymous with Dakar success, opened his account for the new Renault-backed Dacia Sandrider in fourth, trailing de Mevius by another three-tenths and signaling the hybrid prototype’s potential despite its debut challenges.
Factory Toyota’s young American Seth Quintero claimed fifth at 14 seconds off the pace, closely shadowed by defending champion Yazeed Al-Rajhi in sixth aboard his Overdrive Hilux, while Eryk Goczal’s customer EnergyLand Toyota matched their times to the second for a surprise seventh.
Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz Sr. returned strongly after a premature 2025 exit, guiding his Ford Raptor T1+ to eighth just 15 seconds behind Ekstrom.
Matthieu Serradori took ninth for the plucky Century team, with Saood Variawa’s Toyota Gazoo Racing South Africa entry completing the top 10 at 18 seconds back, ensuring all three TGRSA crews navigated cleanly inside the top 20.
Further down, nine-time WRC champion Sebastien Loeb endured a conservative start in 17th for Dacia, over half a minute off the lead alongside new teammate Lucas Moraes who switched from Toyota after claiming the the 2025 World Rally-Raid Championship.
Other notables included Toyota’s Lucas Moraes in 18th and various privateers filling the midfield, with minimal retirements thanks to the Prologue’s brevity, though dust management and early mechanical teething issues hinted at tougher tests ahead.
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Shifting to the bikes, where RallyGP and Rally2 classes converged on the same 22km loop, 20-year-old Spanish rookie Edgar Canet stunned the field with a victory on his Red Bull KTM, clocking 11 minutes 31.9 seconds and becoming the youngest rider ever to top a Dakar Prologue.
This audacious performance edged out teammate and defending Dakar champion Daniel Sanders by just three seconds, with the Australian’s experience keeping him firmly in podium contention.
Ricky Brabec, the American two-time winner hungry for a third crown, secured third for Monster Energy Honda HRC just five seconds off the lead, leveraging his prologue prowess to nab a prime start.
Luciano Benavides followed in fourth for KTM at 11 seconds back, while Botswana’s Ross Branch impressed in fifth on Hero with a 16-second deficit.
Last year’s prologue winner and 2025 World Rally-Raid Championship runner-up Tosha Schareina landed sixth for Honda 23 seconds down, with Adrien Van Beveren taking seventh, 24 seconds adrift.
Skyler Howes posted eighth for Honda, while Martin Michek and Stefan Svitko rounded out the top ten, with KTM and Honda dominating the upper echelons amid razor-thin margins that promise fireworks in the marathon stages.
In Rally2, where production bikes level the playing field, South Africa’s Michael Docherty dominated with sixth overall and a class win, 19 seconds clear of Hero’s Tobias Ebster and KTM’s Konrad Dabrowski.
Rookies like Preston Campbell (fourth in class on Honda) and Ruy Barbosa (fifth) shone, injecting fresh energy into a category blending amateurs and pros.
Honda’s strong showing across RallyGP and Rally2 bodes well, though Canet’s KTM upset disrupts expectations, setting up intra-team rivalries and cross-manufacturer duels as riders eye the 6,600km odyssey to Shubaytah.
While cars and bikes garnered headlines, the Side-by-Side Vehicles (SxS, or T3/T4) and trucks added depth to the Prologue narrative.
Defending SxS champions Brock Hegger and Max Eddie repeated their 2025 form to claim Dakar Rally 2026 Prologue class win, navigating the loop’s deceptive simplicity with precision that belies the category’s high-speed chaos.
Trucks saw Martin van den Brink lead for Eurol Rallysport in 13:05, with V. Zala second just three seconds back for De Rooy and G. Huzink third at six seconds in the hybrid Kuipers Jongbloed entry.
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