Dakar Rally 2026 - Stage 3 and Stage 4

ALULA, Saudi Arabia — The 2026 Dakar Rally’s third stage delivered a statement day for Ford in the top car category, as Mitch Guthrie Jr. converted pace into a breakthrough win on the 421km loop around AlUla — the result that also pushed him into the overall lead.

Ford’s Raptors filled the first five stage positions, underlining just how much the rough, puncture-prone terrain rewarded teams that managed tyres and kept momentum.

Behind the stage win, Guthrie’s advantage at the top of the overall classification was razor-thin: he led Prokop by 26 seconds, with Mattias Ekström third.

Cars (Ultimate) — Stage 3 top 3 :
1) Mitch Guthrie Jr. (Ford) — 4h 04m 32s
2) Martin Prokop (Ford Raptor, privateer entry) +2m 27s •
3) Guy Botterill (Toyota) +5m 23s

Over on two wheels, Tosha Schareina delivered the fastest bike time on Stage 3, with Ricky Brabec and Daniel Sanders close behind on the day. Even so, Sanders limited the damage well enough to hold the overall lead after Stage 3, setting up a tactical fight heading into the marathon-style “refuge” bivouac.

Bikes — Stage 3 top 3:
1) Tosha Schareina (Honda) — 4h 26m 39s •
2) Ricky Brabec (Honda) +2m 17s •
3) Daniel Sanders (KTM) +3m 28s

Stage 4 was the first half of the marathon “refuge” concept — a point-to-point day from AlUla to Bivouac Refuge, where riders and crews must live with what they’ve got overnight.  With limited assistance, the stage sharpened the cost of every puncture, mistake, and mechanical issue.

In cars, Henk Lategan (Toyota) seized the moment with a stage win and used it to take over the overall lead, jumping ahead of Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia) by just under four minutes. The official stage classification shows Lategan ahead of Al-Attiyah, with the Goczał family’s Toyota effort featuring prominently and Sébastien Loeb inside the top five on the day.

Stage 4 also claimed a major casualty: defending champion Yazeed Al-Rajhi was forced to withdraw after technical trouble during the marathon stage.

On bikes, Honda tightened its grip: Schareina won again, with Brabec six seconds back and Skyler Howes completing a near-identical top order just ten seconds off the lead.

Crucially, Schareina’s pace — combined with navigation difficulties for others — moved him to the overall lead after Stage 4, while Sanders’ day was compromised by navigation errors.