Sanders extends lead as Benavides wins Dakar Stage Seven

2026 Dakar Rally

Stage Seven – Riyadh to Wadi Ad Dawasir

Stage Seven of the 2026 Dakar Rally saw Australia’s Daniel Sanders drop down the stage finishers, but extend his overall lead, in a trade-off he’s likely to be happy with, especially considering he was left to open the later stages of the course.

His KTM teammate Luciano Benavides claimed top honours, with a surprising return to pace for Edgar Canet making for another KTM on the podium in a 1-2, while Adrien Van Beveren rounded out the top-three, just 10-seconds off second.

Luciano Benavides

Benavides took his career seventh Dakar stage with the win, while Canet charged from 46th at km 30, all the way up to 24th by km 58, and just kept charging, well and truly bouncing back from his stage five woes.

The KTM domination mirrored the brand’s success in the Anaheim round of US Supercross, where Eli Tomac took the win and Jorge Prado claimed third.

Benavides closed the gap to Ricky Brabec, with just 15-seconds now separating the numbers two and three in the standings, while Sanders extended his lead to 4m25s, from just 45-seconds. That was off the back of Brabec dropping down to 10th for the stage, 9m15s off pace.

Daniel Sanders

Back with the stage results, Skyler Howes rounded out the top five for Honda HRC, 6m46s off the pace, followed by Michael Docherty (+7m38), Tosha Schareina (+8m45), Ross Branch (+8m45), Ignacio Cornejo (9m10) and the already mentioned Brabec.

Top Hoto racer Mason Klein finished 11th meanwhile, 11m37s off the pace, and top Kove in the form of Neils Theric was 13th (+12m42s). A technical failure held Bradley Cox back at km 431, just 28 km from the finish, after sitting in 15th position at the previous checkpoint.

In the standings we see a big jump from the top three, who are separated by just five-minutes, down to fourth places Schareina, who has 15-minutes to regain. Then an even bigger gap back to fifth and sixth overall places, held by Howes and Cornejo, both 33-minutes in arrears.

Van Beveren holds seventh (+55m57s), Branch eighth (1h39m22), Campbell from Rally 2 ninth (+1h43m32) and Mulec rounds out the top ten, almost two hours off the leader.

Michael Docherty was winner of the Rally2 special by 4m50 over Toni Mulec, marking his fifth triumph of the 2026 edition, however Docherty has been racing under Dakar Experience rules since stage four, so he can continue in the race but is no longer eligible for a finisher’s medal.

Preston Campbell will spend his fourth day at the summit of the Rally2 ranking, but the American rookie saw his margin over Toni Mulec dwindle to 11’07”. The Slovenian was 20’54” behind after stage five and 16’42” down after stage six, so he has slashed his deficit by 9’47” in just three specials.

2026 Dakar Rally Stage Seven Results
(Provisional)

1. L. BENAVIDES 4h00m56
2. E. CANET +4m47
3. A. VAN BEVEREN +4m57
4. D. SANDERS +5m35
5. S. HOWES +6m46
6. M. DOCHERTY +7m38
7. T. SCHAREINA +8m45
8. R. BRANCH +8m47
9. I. CORNEJO + 9m10
10. R. BRABEC +9m15

2026 Dakar Rally Standings after Stage Seven
(Provisional)

1. D. SANDERS 28:47:31
2. R. BRABEC +4m25
3. L. BENAVIDES +4m40
4. T. SCHAREINA +15m06
5. S. HOWES +33m14
6. I. CORNEJO +33m25
7. A. VAN BEVEREN +55m57
8. R. BRANCH +1h39m22
9. P. CAMPBELL +1h43m32
10. T. MULEC +1h54m39

2026 Dakar Rally Route/Schedule

2026 Dakar Rally route

2026 Dakar Rally Route/Schedule