2026 Dakar Stage 3 Results – Veloci-Raptors

The 2026 Dakar Rally is now in full swing. 2026 Dakar Stage 2 was totally dominated by Toyota (as you can read here). Read our Dakar 101 article here if you are still learning about the race. 2026 Dakar Stage 3 saw the rally moving north for a 421 km timed section that started in and ended in Al Ula. The stage was fast and sandy with technical rocky sections thrown into the mix.

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Toyota Triumph

Seth Quintero picked up his third victory in the Ultimate class yesterday. He led home a squadron of five Toyota Hiluxes that took the first five places. As a result, the American was the first on the road today. That was not an easy task as 2026 Dakar Stage 3 was bound to be a tricky from a navigational point of view. “If I can have an okay day and be in mid pack at the start of the marathon then I’ll be a happy camper,” said the American before the start of the stage.

Running order on the road proved critical today. Teams that started early really bled time to those who followed. Times were traded back and forth between the teams as the later starters arrived at the the checkpoints. No sooner had one vehicle set a quick time through a checkpoint did another beat that time. Crews were slicing through the checkpoints mere seconds apart. This showed that avoiding punctures and navigational errors would be key. There was also the small matter of not wanting to start first on stage four, so some teams were trying to hide their true pace.

Anyone’s Guess

Once again, we saw that there is no crew with a clear pace advantage. The Ford armada seemed to lose time on the previous day’s stage. But that was not the case on 2026 Dakar Stage 3. Mattias Ekstrom was taking advantage of starting down the order with plenty of tracks to follow on the road made by those ahead. His teammates Carlos Sainz and Nani Roma were doing the same. The Raptors held a provisional one-two-three about a quarter way into the stage. The SA-based Century Racing Team was also making a good showing as their drivers Brian Baragwanath and Mathieu Serradori set good sector times.

Overall race leader going into the stage, Nasser Al-Attiyah and his teammate Sebastien Loeb (Dacia Sandrider) both lost time in the middle part of the stage. The Frenchman dropped nearly 10 minutes and the Qatari lost four, making for a potential reshuffle of the leaderboard at the end of the day. Toyota driver Henk Lategan was having a good run early on until losing a chunk of time by the halfway mark. The same fate befell Quintero who ground to halt for an extended period of time. Young South African, Saood Variawa, in contrast, had another strong showing today.

Flying Fords

While the names changed at the top of the timesheets, it was the Fords that were flying today. Ekstrom and his teammates were separated by seconds at some checkpoints. The Raptors locked out the top five positions with as little as 60 km to go, with even privateer Martin Prokop high up the list. But it was Mitch Guthrie who threw down the gauntlet, setting times that were hard for anyone to match.

The American claimed his first stage win as an Ultimate category competitor, making it two days in a row than an American has won a stage. Prokop was his nearest challenger, about two and a half minutes behind. Guy Botterill (Toyota Gazoo Racing SA), though 9th one hundred kilometres from the finishing line, claimed the last podium spot. He was the sole Hilux in the top ten today. Lucas Moraes (Dacia Sandrider) made a late charge, as did his teammate Cristina Gutierrez to occupy fourth and fifth, respectively. Nani Roma and Carlos Sainz added more Ford representation to the top ten.

A Shake-Up

Today’s stage created a massive shake-up of the leaderboard in the overall standings. Several big names bled time later in the day, which caused many of them to fall out of the top ten. The performance of the day came from the Ford armada with five Fords now occupying the top five positions in the overall standings. Guthrie now leads, even though he was not in the top ten starting the day. He narrowly leads Prokop with Mattias Ekstrom in third.

Moraes is the first of the non-Fords in sixth, ahead of Gutierrez. Saood Variawa is now the highest placed Toyota. Al-Attiyah rounds out the top ten ahead of Lategan who lies just ahead of Loeb. One thing is certain, that nothing is certain at Dakar. The next stage is a marathon, ie there is no overnight assistance, which could lead to some more changes overall.