2026 Dakar Stage 12 Results – Heading for Home

The 2026 Dakar Rally nearing its conclusion. 2026 Dakar Stage 12 was the penultimate of the 48th edition of the rally classic. The stage was contested over 311 km of timed special. The stage started in Al Henakiyah and ended in Yanbu where this year’s event started. Read our Dakar 101 article here if you are still learning about the race. Just a single, short stage remained after today, which meant it was the last chance for anyone to make a charge up the leaderboard.

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A Mixed Bag

The penultimate stage of the 2026 race had the full spectrum of challenges for drivers to deal with. It was a cross-section of all that the region has to offer. The stage started with a rocky section. As we learned early on, these areas have the ever-present threat of punctures. The rocky sections were followed by canyons, which make for tricky navigation. Get it wrong and you may have a long way to go to find your way out. To top it off there was a section of dunes to challenge the crews.

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

Early Starters

The Ford trio of Mattias Ekstrom, privateer Romain Dumas and Carlos Sainz. However, those finishing positions meant that the Raptors would be leading the way today, which would, invariably, cost them time over those leaving later. Rally leader Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia) lost time to his closest rival Nani Roma (Ford) in the overall rankings, but he didn’t seem too concerned. He knows he has a good buffer and his low-down finishing position meant a good starting slot this morning of 17th, some 40 minutes behind Ekstrom.

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

South African driver Henk Lategan lost all chance of an overall win yesterday with a rear bearing failure that cost him four hours of time lost. “We kept going and we kept fighting. We were always coming from the back and getting back up there. We were pushing for so many days and just trying so hard for so many days. For that little bolt to put us out of contention is ridiculous,” he after stage 11. Without much to lose, he was a candidate for the stage 12 victory.

No Clear Leader

Times through the early part of the stage gave no clear indication of who would stand atop the podium. But there were several drivers keen to claim the stage 12 win. Among them were stage one winner Guillaume De Mevius (Mini), Guy Botterill (Toyota), Eryk Goczal and Sebastien Loeb (Dacia). Toby Price also got in on the action. The former two-wheel champ was the Toyota driver at the start of the day.

Loeb started the day in third overall, looking to challenge Roma for second place. Al-Attiyah was not about to slow down, though. The Qatari driver upped his pace, which allowed him to gain time over Roma in the overall race classification. The battle raged as drivers starting later in the day had tracks to follow. As a result the their navigation was much easier.

Stage Winner

But there was one man to beat to today: Nasser Al-Attiyah, who put one hand on the 2026 title today by taking the stage win. This brings his all-time stage win tally to 50 equaling the stage victory record in the car category jointly held by Ari Vatanen and Stéphane Peterhansel. His closest rival was Mitch Guthrie (Ford). With Price in third, there were three different manufacturers represented on the podium. Ekstrom was fourth with an impressive fifth for Toyota privateers Eryk Goczal one spot ahead of his father Marek. Loeb was classified seventh just ahead of Roma. Lategan was the top finishing South African in ninth

The Lead Grows

Not only did Al-Attiyah win the stage, he managed to increase his lead in the overall rankings. He is now a full fifteen minutes clear of Roma. His thoughts must be turning to his sixth overall win of the grueling race. Ekstrom overtakes Loeb in the general standings by virtue of his fast stage time. The Frenchman loses time and drops off the provisional podium. Carlos Sainz rounds off the top five.