Vaidotas Žala: "The Dakar is a strange beast"

Dakar 2026 | Stage 13 | YANBU > YANBU
January 17 ^th 2026 - 16:11 [GMT + 3]

Ž for Žala! Like Zorro, Žala came out of nowhere to disarm the class heavyweights and win the trophy on his second attempt. Two Tuareg trophies are heading to Lithuania, where rally raid is one of the most popular sports, as Rokas Baciuška also prevailed in the Stock class.

"I entered the Dakar ten times in the car category, but trucks are a completely different story. I'm happy to get home without a hitch. When I started my first Dakar eleven years ago, my dream was just to take part, but today I won a trophy. Life is crazy! I think my consistency paid off. We only had to stop for fifteen minutes at the start of the race, but my rivals had ups and downs. The Dakar is a strange beast. A single mistake can cost you everything, so we were lucky not to make any."