2026 Dakar Stage 11 Results – Heartbreak for Henk

The 2026 Dakar Rally is sliding into its final few days of competition. 2026 Dakar Stage 11 was contested over 346 km of timed special that promised to be extremely quick. The stage started Bisha and ended in Al Henakiyah. Read our Dakar 101 article here if you are still learning about the race. With just two stages after today, chasing crews had to make a push if they planned to challenge for the overall lead of the race, or wished to climb the leaderboard. As a reminder, the Dakar Rally is the opening round of the 2026 W2RC, or World Rally Raid Championship. This year’s season consists of five rounds.

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“The difficulty won’t lie in the nature of the terrain but in the number of intersections, forks and junctions. It could soon seem like a maze. A clear head and concentration will be the best allies for the competitors who want to reach the bivouac in Al Henakiyah without damage, all the more so since the overall distance will make the stage exhausting,” warned the organisers ahead of the day’s timed special.

Fast and Flowing

Crews were told ahead of time that the average speed today would be quite high. With fast flowing sections and less technical driving, gaps would be hard to close on the overall standings. However, there was the ever-present threat of punctures through the rocky sections. As a result, race organisers have, yet again, made provision for a mid-stage stop. This mandatory pause at 190 km allowed all teams to take on fresh spare tyres, if they needed.

Click here to read why the Dakar Rally is such an alluring racing event.

Early Leader

Mathieu Serradori (Century Racing) took his second-ever win yesterday. Therefore he had the ‘honour’ of leading the cars today. But, as we know, that costs time with not that many tracks to follow. Not far behind were the Dacia trio of Nasser Al Attiyah, Sébastien Loeb and and Lucas Moraes. The latter would be playing the role of back-up today as his two teammates were much further up the rankings, with a chance of overall victory for Al-Attiyah and a podium position for Loeb.

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

Were it not for bad luck, Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC) would have none at all on the 48th edition of the rally raid. The leading Hilux driver ran out of fuel at the very end of the stage 10, which was the latest of many incidents. As a result he had to be towed to the finish line by his team mate Toby Price.

Lategan had to press on today if he planned to make any impression on his main rival Al-Attiyah. He was setting a good pace until more bad luck befell the South African. At about 140 km his Hilux ground to a halt with a wheel bearing failure. His unscheduled stop was in excess of one and a half hours, which has scuppered his chances of victory or even a podium finish.

Fast Fords

The Ford squad had a few days that they’d rather forget. Mattias Ekstrom suffered mechanical issues that saw him fall off the provisional rally podium. Both his teammates also struggled this week, with Carlos Sainz losing time due to navigational issues yesterday. However, the Raptors went hunting today as they flew through the checkpoints. In fact, even Ford privateer Romain Dumas was putting up a challenge for stage honours. Ford were 1-2-3 at about the halfway mark.

Toyota Gazoo Racing SA teammates Saood Variawa and Guy Botterill flew the SA flag high as they became the closest challengers to the Blue Oval boys. Other Toyota drivers Joao Ferreira and Seth Quintero were also getting in on the act. The man having a steady day was Al-Attiyah. The overall race leader must’ve known that his lead going into today simply needed protection, as opposed to attacking.

Stage Winner

The Raptors proved too quick for all challengers today. Ford locked out the the podium with a 1-2-3 for Ekstrom, Dumas and Sainz, respectively. This was the Swede’s eighth stage win. Dumas registering his best ever finish at the Dakar Rally. This is the American constructor’s third 1-2-3 on this edition, repeating the feat accomplished on stage 5 of this year’s event.

Ferreira was the closest challenger in fourth with Quintero showing that the Hiluxes are quick over the terrain of the stage. Guillaume de Mevius brought his Mini home in sixth. Top-finishing South African, Guy Botterill was seventh. Saood Variawa was just behind his teammate in ninth. Loeb was tenth ahead of Nani Roma. Al-Attiyah finished down the order, which may have been a strategic move to start lower down the order tomorrow. He explains his pace today in the video at the bottom of this post.

The Lead Retained

When all the fast guys had completed the stage it was Al-Attiyah who remained in charge at the top of the rankings. He lost four minutes to Nani Roma, who now lies second due to Lategan’s woes. Loeb steps onto the provisional podium, having made up over five minutes on the rally leader. Ekstrom moves up to fourth ahead of his teammate Sainz.