Saudi Arabia, January 3, 2026 – EBRO Audax Motorsport’s great Dakar adventure is now a reality. After a busy 2025 working intensively to prepare the Spanish automotive brand’s sporting project, the major challenge began today with the prologue stage in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.
It was an initial taste of the terrain, with a special stage of just 23 timed kilometres designed solely to determine the starting order for Stage 1, with the time not counting towards the overall classification. Laia Sanz and Maurizio Gerini recorded the 24th-fastest time in their EBRO s800 XRR, 46 seconds off the lead, giving them—on paper—a good position heading into this Sunday’s stage.
“We went well and the feeling with the car has been very positive. We didn’t take any risks in the rocky section to avoid unnecessary scares on the first day. Maybe we lost a bit more time than expected, but the important thing is that tomorrow we’ll start in an area that will allow us to run our own pace without being overly affected by the dust from other vehicles,” explained the EBRO Audax Motorsport driver.
For Laia Sanz, this is her 16th Dakar participation and her first at the wheel of a top-category Ultimate / T1+ car such as the EBRO s800 XRR. The main objective of the project in its first year is to complete the route of this 48th edition of the Dakar—made up of 13 stages plus the prologue—covering a total of 7,994 kilometres (4,840 of them timed), and to do so in the best position possible. The challenge will be far from easy, with one of the strongest entry lists in Dakar history. In total, Sanz and Gerini will face 72 Ultimate vehicles, 58 of which are the highest technical level (T1+). In the overall car classification, there will also be 37 Challengers, 41 SSVs and 45 trucks.
Source: EBRO Audax Motorsport
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