Time for the big guns with one day to go

January 2 ^nd 2026 - 08:34 [GMT + 3]

 Although title holder Yazeed Al Rajhi was called to scrutineering yesterday alongside his Toyota colleagues, today the majority of the favourites in all the categories will be submitting their paperwork and vehicles to the FIM and FIA stewards on the eve of the prologue. In the early hours of the morning, proceedings were kicked off by Nicolas Cavigliasso, who won the Challenger category on the last edition of the Dakar and triumphed in the W2RC 2025 season, accompanied by his wife Valentina Pertegarini, just before the current boss of the truck category Martin Macik, who is gunning for a third consecutive title. Also present in the crisp morning temperatures were the Dacia Sandriders’ drivers, with an even more prestigious team than last year, because in addition to Sebastien Loeb’s tenth attempt to win the Dakar and a possible return to the top spot for Nasser Al Attiyah, world champion Lucas Moraes will be wearing his new overalls for the first time in a competitive context. Their most anticipated rivals in the battle to topple the Toyota clan from the throne will make their appearance later on in the day, behind the wheel of their Ford Raptors: former winners Carlos Sainz and Nani Roma will be accompanied, as was the case last year, by Mattias Ekstrom, who achieved the best finish in 2025 (3rd) and Mitch Guthrie. In the bike category, the leader of the pack is Daniel Sanders. He will be tackling the defence of his title with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing in the company of Spaniard Edgar Canet, who, like the Australian, also triumphed in the W2RC but in the Rally 2 class, as well as Argentinean Luciano Benavides. The confrontation with the Monster Energy riders will have to wait for tomorrow, but they will probably bump into each other in the aisles of the scrutineering facilities. At this point, the atmosphere will be a friendly one with Tosha Schareina, Ricky Brabec, Adrien Van Beveren and Skyler Howes, though the tone will have changed within twenty-four hours. The battle promises to be just as close in the SSV category, with the Polaris clan enjoying two consecutive triumphs thanks to Brock Hegger (in 2025) and Xavier de Soultrait (in 2024), who will be backed up this year by Gonçalo Guerreiro (2nd in 2025) and Johan Kristoffersson, in the confrontation with the Can-Am vehicles driven by Chaleco Lopez and Manuel Andujar in particular.