The third stage of the Dakar Rally 2026. New winner and dominant duo Ford

American Mitch Guthrie led Ford to victory in the third stage of the 2026 Dakar Rally and took the lead in the general classification ahead of Dacia driver Nasser Al-Attiyah.

After an unsuccessful start to the week in which none of the Ford teams managed to finish in the top 10, the team fully recovered during the 421-kilometer special stage around Al-Ula. Throughout the day, Ford Raptor drivers set the pace of the stage.

Two-time DTM champion Matthias Ekstrom led the peloton at the start. Guthrie started the stage coolly and dropped out of the top 10 at the start, losing almost two minutes to the leaders. However, at the 303rd kilometer, he overtook Ekstrjom and took the lead. By the end of the stage, the Swede had lost more than seven minutes, while Guthrie confidently brought it to the finish line to claim his first career stage victory in the Ultimate category by 2 minutes and 27 seconds.

A surprising second-place finisher was MD Sport’s Martin Prokop, who doubled for Ford in the customer Raptor, moving up from fifth place.

This time Toyota had a much weaker performance than the previous day, when the team took all five first places. The only exception was Guy Botterill, who rose to third place at the end of the stage, 5 minutes and 53 seconds behind the leader. Two-time Dakar winner Carlos Sainz Sr. He finished seventh.

In the overall standings, Guthrie rose from 14th to first place, 26 seconds ahead of Prokop. Then come Ekstrom, Sainz and Roma; The entire top 5 is currently occupied by Ford drivers on the eve of the marathon stage.

Among the non-Fords, Moraes is the best (ranked 6th), followed by Gutierrez and Serradori. Saud Variawa and Al-Attiyah completed the top 10.

The third stage of the motorcycle competition was held entirely under the control of Monster Energy Honda. The victory was won by Spanish Tosha Shareina, with a time of 4 hours, 26 minutes and 39 seconds, 2 minutes and 17 seconds ahead of her teammate, American Ricky Brebeck. The top three were completed by Red Bull KTM Factory Racing representative Daniel Sanders – the Australian rider was unable to intervene in the Honda pilots’ fight for victory in the stage, losing 3 minutes and 28 seconds to the winner.

Edgar Canet, the leader of the prologue and the first stage, could only come 8th.