Al-Attiyah and Benavides take the Dakar's headline classes

The 2026 Dakar Rally finished in Yanbu on 17 January after a prologue and 13 stages across Saudi Arabia. Nasser Al-Attiyah won the car classification, while Luciano Benavides finished first in the motorcycle category.

Dakar combines speed with navigation, mechanical resilience, sleep management and prolonged environmental exposure. Its two-week structure makes the overall classification a measure of consistency across terrain rather than a single-day result.