Last published episode: 'KLIM Dakar Rally Daily | 2026 | Dakar Rally Stage Six

The first half of the 2026 Dakar Rally is complete as competitors head into a much deserved rest day tomorrow. After a brutal 900km and fourteen hours, the top racers in the Dakar Rally have finished the first half of this year's race.

Up front, it's American Ricky Brabec on his Monster Energy Honda HRC Rally machine taking the top spot on the day by just over a minute to his teammate Tosha Schareina. Third on the day went to Red Bull KTM Factory Racing's Daniel Sanders, three seconds behind Schareina. The big story today is Sanders, who went to the front of the field early after catching his teammate Luciano Benevides. Sanders threw down a blistering pace at the front, riding away from the field and was clearly the fastest on-course. However, he was slapped with a six-minute speeding penalty after reportedly flying through a 50km/h zone at 98km/h.

The mistake took the sure stage win away from Sanders and closed the gap at the top of the general standings. Here, Sanders has the lead by a mere 45 seconds over Brabec with Benavides in third, more than ten minutes behind.

The rest day is welcomed for the bivouac, and we catch up with Mason Klein as he finishes another day in the top-ten rankings on-stage, and sits 13th overall.

Rest day tomorrow, and then we're straight in to a brutal second half of the 2026 Dakar Rally!

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Dakar Rally Daily is produced and edited by Jesse Ziegler, and hosted by Quinn Cody and Jesse Ziegler.