KEVIN BENAVIDES WINS 2026 DAKAR RALLY

A remarkable finish to the 2026 Dakar Rally saw Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Luciano Benavides take his first victory in the 13-day 8,000+km marathon, along with KTM’s 21st win. Trailing Monster Energy Honda HRC’s Ricky Brabec going into the final stage, a small navigational error from Brabec allowed Benavides to take the win – by just 2 seconds.

Both Honda and KTM brought strong, experienced squads to this year’s Dakar, with KTM’s lineup led by Australia’s Daniel Sanders, Benavides and fast youngster, Edgar Canet. The HRC team included two-time winner Brabec, plus Skylar Howes, Adrien van Beveren and Tosha Schareina.

Hero Motorcycles and Sherco also fielded factory entries, but the battle for victory in the Rally GP class was expected to come down to Honda and KTM, and that’s exactly how it played out.

Strong start for Chucky, Benavides

Sanders, the defending Dakar Champion and 2025 W2RC Champion, started strong. The Aussie had the overall lead on Stage 2, then maintained it with only a couple of blips up to Stage 9.

Benavides, who finished fourth last year, was steady through the opening stages, staying inside the Top 10 and taking his first stage win on Stage 5, then going back-to-back on Stages 7 and 8. That moved the 30-year-old Argentine to first in the overall classification, but a navigational error on Stage 9 saw him finish ninth on the stage and fall back to third overall.

Brabec Takes Over

Speed, consistency and strong navigation had Brabec in contention from the outset. The 2020 and 2024 winner was never lower than third in the overall standings through the first week, but would be the main beneficiary when Sanders crashed after mistiming a dune jump on Stage 10. While able to continue, a broken collarbone and fractured sternum meant Sanders was out of contention for the win, moving Brabec into the overall lead.

A tactical sixth place finish on Stage 11 allowed Brabec to start behind Benavides on the penultimate Stage 12, winning that to take a 3 minute, 23 second lead into the short final stage.

A Narrow Margin

In most cases, a 3m20s lead would be enough with just 105km of special stage remaining, but it proved otherwise this year.

Brabec opened the stage ahead of Benavides and was fast in the early rocky section, maintaining his advantage onto a fast, flat section along the Red Sea coast. However, misreading a navigation marker with only 7km remaining sent Brabec off course, and when he returned to the correct route, he could see Benavides behind.

With time bonuses given to those who open the route, Brabec should have had an advantage, but whether it was enough for a third Dakar title was unknown. Benavides finished the stage just ahead of Brabec, but neither rider knew who had won the overall.

After minutes in agonising limbo, it was determined that Benavides had won by just 2 seconds – the closest margin in Dakar history.

“I still can’t believe it,” Benavides said. “To win by just two seconds is unbelievable. I even missed the last two corners and nearly crashed, so it was right on the limit, but it paid off.

“This is my ninth Dakar, and it shows that if you never stop dreaming, never stop believing, and keep fighting for your goals, anything is possible. I never gave up.”

The heartbreak at Honda was just as extreme as the jubilation at KTM, with Brabec gutted to lose by such a narrow margin.

“On the final stage, a quite confusing note led me to choose a line that wasn’t the correct one,” Brabec explained. “When I turned back, Luciano was coming and stayed on the right track, which made the difference in such a close battle.”