2026 Dakar Stage 7 Results – The Racing Resumes

The 2026 Dakar Rally took its traditional, mid-race break after week of racing. Six stages were completed leading up to the rest day, which took place in the capital city of Riyadh. Crews had completed 2 297 km of special, just under half of the 2026 race total, before starting today. Read our Dakar 101 article here if you are still learning about the race. 2026 Dakar Stage 7 was a resumption of race action. The seventh stage was another that was nearly a thousand kilometres long with the crews returning to the dunes. The timed section was 457 km from Riyadh to Wadi ad-Dawasir.

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Seven Winners in Seven Stages

The day started with big news. Ford driver Nani Roma was declared the winner of stage five. The Spaniard won the stage on the day, but was later served a time penalty for speeding in an open section. The FIA has reviewed the incident and re-awarded Roma the stage victory. As a result we’ve had an incredible seven different winners in as many days: Mattias Ekström claimed the prologue, Guillaume de Mévius (stage 1), Seth Quintero (stage 2), Mitch Guthrie (stage 3), Henk Lategan (stage 4), Nani Roma (stage 5) and Nasser Al Attiyah (stage 6). In addition there have been four brands claiming stage wins: Ford, Mini, Toyota and Dacia.

The South African flag is also flying high in the desert. The first week of racing has resulted in competitors from various countries taking stage victories in the different categories. The USA leads with 10 (Quintero, Guthrie, Heger, Chaney, S. Price, Brabec). France follows with six (Theric, De Soultrait, Peterhansel). SA lies joint third with the Netherlands at three apiece (Docherty, Lategan, Puck Klaassen/ M. van den Brink, Huzink, Spierings).

Rally Leader Leads out

Nasser Al Attiyah (Dacia) played a, by his reckoning, cautious first week of the rally. However, even that approach resulted in the Qatari leading overall heading into the rest day. As a result of winning stage six, the five-time champion was the first on the road today. It was the first time opened the road at the 48th edition of the race. He was followed closely by his teammate Sébastien Loeb who finished second on the previous stage. Once again, leading the way proved to be detrimental to a crew. The Dacia drivers were first on the road, but soon dropped off the top of the timesheets. The chasing Fords and Toyotas were setting fast times as they had the benefit of tracks laid down by those ahead.

Fast Chargers

The Toyotas were quick today with all the top crews setting quick times through the checkpoints. Seth Quintero, Toby Price and Joao Ferreira were all challenging for a podium spot. Early race stage winner Guillame de Mevius (Mini), who started down the order, showed that he has the pace to challenge the frontrunners as well, despite suffering mechanical issues that cost him massive time a few stages in a row. Ford driver Mattias Ekstrom showed a turn of pace through the mid-part of the stage that showed intent of victory. He and his Raptor hunting for a second stage win this year.

Click here to read about the herioc comeback of De Mevius’ navigator, Mathieu Baumel.

Most notable was the pace set by Henk Lategan (Toyota) who was second in the overall standings at the start of the day over six minutes behind. The South African clawed back more half the time deficit to his rival, and race leader Al-Attiyah, by the halfway point. He continued his charge throughout the day, taking chunks of time out of the leader’s overnight cushion. The local lad seemed set to take the stage win and regain the lead of the rally. However, his efforts fell apart in the final few kilometres. He crossed the finish line 8 min 35 seconds behind the winner.

A right rear damper broke on his Hilux with 30 km to go. As a result there was serious damage, including breaking a driveshaft and the rear anti-roll bar. As luck would have it, Lategan was carrying a spare damper because he was the last of his team on the road today. Driver and co-driver made quick work of the damper change and limped to the finished in front-wheel-drive mode.

Stage Winner

Mattias Ekström becomes the first to claim two stage wins (he took the prologue victory) in the 2026 race. The Ford driver crossed the line 4 min 27 sec ahead of the Toyota of Ferreira. Ekstroms’s teammate Mitch Guthrie put in a flyer towards the end and swooped in to make it a Ford 1-3 on the podium today. Guthrie beat out Price by a mere six seconds. The Dacias of Lucas Moraes, Loeb and Al-Attiyah finished 5th, 6th and 11th.

Lead Retained

Lategan was set for a stage win and to take the overall lead of the race for most of the stage. However, his late stumble means that Nasser Al-Attiyah retains the lead in the overall standings. The stage winner, Mattias Ekström, climbs to second spot ahead of his teammate Nani Roma. Roma now occupies fourth by virtue of his earlier race penalty being voided off the overall classification. As a result Lategan drops to fourth with Carlos Sainz (Ford) in fifth. Sébastien Loeb is still sixth.