Nasser Al Attiyah finishes fourth in Dakar Rally 2026 prologue stage

Riyadh:Qatari driver Nasser Al Attiyah finished fourth in the prologue stage of the 48th edition of the Dakar Rally 2026, hosted by the Kingdom of Sau...

Riyadh:  Qatari driver Nasser Al Attiyah finished fourth in the prologue stage of the 48th edition of the Dakar Rally 2026, hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the seventh consecutive year, with the participation of 812 competitors.

The rally got underway today from the city of Yanbu on the Red Sea coast, with a 22-kilometre prologue stage.

In the car category, five-time Dakar champion Al Attiyah recorded a time of 10:56.6 minutes to place fourth. Sweden's Mattias Ekström topped the stage with a time of 10:48.7 minutes, followed by American Mitch Guthrie in second place at 10:56.1 minutes, and Belgium's Guillaume de Mévius in third at 10:56.3 minutes. Saudi driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi, the defending overall champion, finished sixth with a time of 11:02.4 minutes.

In the motorcycle category, Spain's Edgar Canet claimed first place in the RallyGP class, clocking 11:31.9 minutes, three seconds ahead of Australia's Daniel Sanders, the reigning champion, who finished in 11:34.1 minutes. American Ricky Brabec took third place with a time of 11:36.8 minutes.

The total distance of the rally stands at 7,994 kilometres for cars and 7,906 kilometres for motorcycles, including 4,480 kilometres of timed stages for cars and 4,748 kilometres for motorcycles.