Martim Ventura, a bp Ultimate Adventure Team rider, secured 2nd place in Rally2 today after completing Stage 12 just 1m40s behind the day’s winner, on a particularly demanding day that took competitors from Al Henakiyah to Yanbu. The stage featured a 310-kilometre timed special, marked by a wide variety of terrain. Competitors faced fast tracks alternating with winding, narrow sections, riverbeds, and an extremely demanding dune section.
Ventura, an official HRC Honda rider, finished this complex stage with the sixth-fastest time overall, a result that allowed him to move up to 11th place in the overall standings. It was a day that tested his physical endurance, navigation and pace management. With only one stage remaining and just over 100 kilometres still to be contested against the clock, the young bp Ultimate Adventure Team rider remains the rally’s second-best Rookie and retains 3rd place in the Rally2 category—two standings which, if maintained, will see him step onto the final podium of the 2026 Dakar Rally tomorrow.
The competition concludes tomorrow with Stage 13, the final stage, which will be run around Yanbu. The final special will total 105 kilometres against the clock, split into two distinct sections. In the first, riders will cross a mountainous landscape on dirt tracks. After this segment and the respective liaison, the start will be given again for the rally’s final timed section and the final celebration with the podium ceremony.
NOTE: As in Stage 11 of Dakar 2026, held yesterday, Martim Ventura struggled with issues on the navigation tablet, which once again led to a revision of the classifications by the event organisers.
Source: Official Press Release
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