Nasser Al-Attiyah Takes Lead as Toyota Drivers Dominate Dakar Rally Stage Two

Posted : 06 January 2026

Toyota drivers dominated the second stage of the Dakar Rally on Monday, claiming the fastest five positions, but it was Qatar’s Nasser Al-Attiyah who took the overall lead in the car standings for the Dacia Sandriders team. The five-time Dakar champion was only eighth fastest on the 400km special stage from Yanbu to Al-Ula on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast, yet finished seven seconds ahead of Toyota’s Seth Quintero.

American Quintero set the pace for the stage, finishing one minute and 42 seconds ahead of South Africa’s Henk Lategan, last year’s overall runner-up. Saudi Arabia’s 2025 champion Yazeed Al-Rajhi placed third for Toyota’s Overdrive customer team after losing nearly half an hour on Sunday. Australian Toby Price, a two-time winner on motorcycles, was fourth in a Toyota Hilux T1+, followed by his Portuguese teammate Joao Ferreira in fifth.

Al-Attiyah reflected on his cautious approach, saying: “It was a good day. I am really quite happy to not really go crazy from the beginning, without any punctures. This is what we need to do for the next two or three days and then we can find our rhythm.” Belgian Guillaume de Mevius, whose opening stage win was a personal milestone following his co-driver Mathieu Baumel’s recovery from a leg amputation, was third overall, ahead of Lategan and nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb in a Dacia. The top seven drivers were separated by less than three minutes, highlighting the competitiveness of the field.

Three different manufacturers have claimed stage victories so far, with Ford winning the prologue on Saturday and Mini X-Raid taking Sunday’s stage.

In the motorcycle category, defending champion Daniel Sanders of Australia won the stage and took the lead from Spanish KTM rider Edgar Canet. Canet, who started first on the road, suffered a minor fall after 100km, allowing Sanders to overtake and build a 30-second advantage. American 2024 winner Ricky Brabec remains third on his factory Honda, two minutes and 18 seconds behind the leader.

The rally has already seen setbacks for several riders. British competitor James Hillier, an Isle of Man TT winner, retired after fracturing his elbow in a fall 250km into Sunday’s opening stage. Indian rider Harith Noah, winner of the Rally 2 class in 2024, was forced to skip Monday’s stage due to a back injury sustained the previous day.

Stage three on Tuesday will challenge competitors with 422km of desert terrain, looping from and back to Al-Ula. The Dakar Rally spans two weeks and covers 7,994km, including 4,840km across 13 timed stages, entirely within Saudi Arabia. Originally launched in 1978 as a race from Paris to Dakar across the Sahara, the event moved to South America in 2009 and then to Saudi Arabia in 2020. This year, it also serves as the opening round of the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC).

Nasser Al-Attiyah Takes Lead as Toyota Drivers Dominate Dakar Rally Stage Two

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