Martim Ventura, rider for the bp Ultimate Adventure Team, continues to impress at the Dakar Rally 2026, claiming victory in the Rally2 category today after completing Stage 11—thereby repeating the historic win he achieved on Stage 1. Today’s leg ran from Bisha to Al Henakiyah, over a demanding route featuring 347 timed kilometres. The stage was marked by a high number of crossings, forks and junctions, making the course particularly complex for navigation.
Martim Ventura, an official HRC Honda rider, also secured 7th place in the overall stage classification, finishing 7m11s behind the outright winner of Stage 11. After today’s result, the young bp Ultimate Adventure Team rider remains the 2nd-best Rookie, holds 3rd place—and therefore a podium position—in the Rally2 category, and continues to sit 12th in the overall general classification.
“It was a fairly calm special, always riding fast. It had some technical sections, but they were a lot of fun. I only had an issue with the tablet where it didn’t validate some waypoints, and I lost a minute or two because of that. We’re almost at the end of the race and I’m loving every day and I’m really happy with the results,” Martim Ventura said at the finish of the special.
The Dakar Rally 2026 continues tomorrow with Stage 12, linking Al Henakiyah to Yanbu. Competitors will face a 310-kilometre timed selective sector, with fast tracks alternating with winding, narrow sections and riverbeds, before a very demanding stretch of dunes to finish.
NOTE: An update to the Stage 11 results of Dakar 2026 was issued this afternoon. Initially, Martim Ventura had been classified 2nd in the Rally2 category; however, due to a technical issue with the rider’s tablet, the organisers decided to remove the time lost as a result of the malfunction—something beyond the rider’s control, as he explained at the end of the special. Following this revision, Martim Ventura was awarded the Rally2 stage win.
Source: Official Press Release
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