Jordi Juvanteny, José Luis Criado and Xavi Ribas finished third in Stage 10 and collected 15 points after driving within the reference time (Normal Mode).
The MAN 6x6 crew holds an 11-point lead at the top of the overall standings in their category, with only three days remaining.
Juvanteny: “It was a tough day with soft dunes and the added difficulty of having to open the track. However, we’re still in first place and the truck is working perfectly.”
Co-driver José Luis Criado breaks down the complexity of navigation at the Dakar and the key factors for interpreting the roadbook.
The KH-7 ECOVERGY Team completed a challenging tenth stage of the 2026 Dakar Rally this Wednesday, run as a loop starting and finishing in Bisha. Jordi Juvanteny, José Luis Criado and Xavi Ribas ended the day in third place after covering 369 kilometres (71 of them timed), a result that allows them to head into the final stretch of the rally while keeping the Mission 1000 lead.
From the start, the special tested the MAN 6x6, which had to open the track through very soft dunes. The difficulty of both the terrain and the navigation forced the team to turn back to validate a waypoint they had missed and retrace part of the route before continuing.
Despite these setbacks, the hydrogen-electric truck crew managed to complete the stage within the reference time set by the organisers, earning 5 bonus points (Normal Mode) on top of the 10 points awarded for finishing. Their main rival drove in Sport Mode and clawed back 5 points in the overall standings, but Juvanteny, Criado and Ribas still retain an 11-point margin.
The day once again highlighted the extra challenge facing the KH-7 ECOVERGY Team due to the handicap imposed by the organisers. As winners of the previous two editions, they must complete the specials in less time than the rest in order to earn the same bonuses. In Stage 10, the team’s reference time was set at 1 hour and 35 minutes, which meant they had to drive 12 minutes faster than their rivals to be eligible for the same points.
“It was a complicated day. Already at kilometre 6 we ran into very soft dunes where the truck sank and it was hard to make progress. As we were leading, we had no reference points and, in a dune section, we missed a waypoint. We had to go back, and then we went very fast to the finish to get inside the reference time. We’re still leading, the truck is working perfectly and we’re going to fight until the end,” said driver Jordi Juvanteny.
The 2026 Dakar continues this Thursday with Stage 11 between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, the longest of the entire event for Mission 1000 participants, totalling 800 kilometres, of which 98 will be timed.
How to read the Dakar roadbook
Beyond driving, navigation is another key part of the Dakar Rally. Each day, teams must correctly interpret the roadbook—the document that defines the route, hazards, direction changes and mandatory passage points (waypoints) throughout each special.
Co-driver José Luis Criado—the competitor with the most Dakar entries (35), alongside Stéphane Peterhansel—is responsible for this task in the KH-7 ECOVERGY Team. Using the roadbook, Criado reads a sequence of pictograms with partial and total distances, symbols, terrain references and danger warnings, and turns them into precise instructions for the driver. “This is my job, and I do it as best I can; sometimes I make mistakes, but after so many years I’m still here, learning and doing my job on every stage,” the co-driver says.
Source: KH-7 ECOVERGY Team
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