The day became a concentrated challenge for the crews, a true examination of skill, tactics, and endurance. The lead and podium finish in the Challenger category confirmed the team cohesion and the efforts of everyone who reached the finish line.
The 2026 Dakar Rally is approaching its climax. The finish line of the two-week marathon rally-raid is already looming on the horizon. But the final two stages could change the entire balance of power, revealing the fastest, most resilient, and most successful competitors and setting the final accents in the Challenger category. The final hundreds of kilometers will be the culmination of two weeks’ competition, testing the reliability of vehicles and fortitude. Every kilometer of the intense route, which has condensed everything the competitors have seen so far, could change the final standings.
The penultimate stage of the 48th edition of the Dakar Rally proved a true challenge for the drivers and their vehicles, showcasing the diverse terrain of Saudi Arabia. The Organizers designed the route so that competitors would encounter a mixture of all types of tracks in a single day. There were high-speed, wide roads and mountainous terrain, alternating rocky sections and challenging wadi crossings, dunes with soft and compact sand, winding technical canyons, and short trial sections.
The route constantly changed pace. After slow and technically challenging sections, high-speed plateaus opened up again, requiring a high pace and careful navigation. In some places, the route was complicated by additional elements like vegetation growing directly in the sand, cliffs, and volcanic rocks, making overtaking nearly impossible. The final kilometers were driven at high speeds across the plateau, but with some challenging sections that required utmost concentration. This stage became the quintessence of all the challenges that the crews faced throughout the competition, and a test of their skill, endurance and tactical thinking.
Day Timeline
The 12th stage in the Challenger category began with active attacks from Paul Spierings. The Dutchman, who had missed out on victory the day before (falling just 29 seconds behind), set a high pace from the first kilometers and, after the waypoint at the 45th kilometer, took the lead, ahead of Lucas del Rio and Kevin Benavides. However, as the stage progressed, it became clear that Spierings was solely fighting for the stage win, with no tournament ambitions, while the key intrigue of the day was the battle for the overall standings.
In this battle, Yasir Seaidan attempted to put pressure on Pau Navarro. The Saudi seemed faster in the first third of the selective section, but was only able to make up a minute and a half on the Spaniard in that stretch. Then Navarro, who had never won a stage during this marathon rally-raid, picked up the pace a little and finished the selective section ahead of Seaidan, maintaining a solid lead in the overall standings and continuing to control the rally.
Regarding the Stage 12 results, the decisive moment was the Argentinian’s surge. After the 184th kilometer, Kevin Benavides not only made up time on Spierings but also took the lead, maintaining a steady and assertive pace. His main rival for the stage win had long been his compatriot David Zille. By the 233rd kilometer, Benavides had consolidated his lead, while Dania Akeel found hidden reserves for a surge in the final kilometers and overtook David Zille.
At the selective section finish, Kevin Benavides celebrated his second stage victory at this Dakar edition, ahead of Dania Akeel and David Zille. The entire podium for the day was occupied by the BBR Motorsport crews. Pau Navarro completed a flawless stage, maintaining a commanding lead in the intermediate classification with a 25-minute and 53-second advantage over Seaidan and moving one step closer to a possible historic victory in the Challenger category.
For Sergei Remennik’s crew, the 12th stage was generally smooth and composed. They held a steady 13th position for the first half of the distance, controlling their pace and taking the selective section safely. However, an unfortunate incident occurred on the fast canyon road before the neutralization zone, a tire punctured at about 220th kilometer. A tire replacement was carried out quickly and took no more than 3.5 minutes, minimizing losses and maintaining their position in the group; the crew only dropped to 15th place.
From there, the crew followed team tactics. In the neutralization zone, they decided not to wait the required time and continued immediately to shorten the distance to Pau Navarro and act as a backup for the intermediate leader. After the 258th kilometer, the crew managed to maintain a high pace, rounding out the top ten during the final part of the selective section and bringing the stage to the finish in the same vein, demonstrating the coherence and discipline of teamwork.
Sergei Remennik, driver, “We’ve finished the penultimate selective section. Now we’ll check the car. We drove the last 30 kilometers, a little less, without rear-wheel drive, it got lost somewhere. The road nature showed us everything we’d seen over the past two weeks. It was condensed into one day: dunes, sharp rocks, fast straights, and canyons. The full range of rally conditions we’d seen over two separate weeks has been crammed into one day today. Therefore, it’s neither possible to prepare for everything at once, nor to adjust the tire pressure. We drove, of course, at a higher one to preserve the tires as much as possible, but it was a bit difficult to climb up the dunes. We weren’t the only ones with this problem, but what we have is what we have. And we apparently got a slow puncture somewhere. We had to change a tire, but it didn’t significantly affect the result. We had an incredible experience. The country, of course, has amazing nature. Basically, our planet is a wonderful place to live. And Saudi Arabia very clearly demonstrates the diverse set of conditions, and we would return here again. Today we’ve just had to watch Pau Navarro. We hope he wins, there’s just a little bit left to go, and we want to achieve a great team result. We want everything we’ve done to be worth it. Both we and the team worked great, but let’s wait until tomorrow.”
Aleksei Ignatov, co-driver, “It was a great day and a very interesting and action-packed selective section. It was basically everything we’ve seen at this Dakar. The selective section started with fast, very interesting, and high-speed roads, just like in a classic rally. Then we faced some rather difficult, trial rocky sections, and lots of navigable sections where we drove through valleys and along riverbeds. There wasn’t much sand, but there was some nonetheless. And in some places, it even made us think about how to proceed, because we were driving on fairly heavily inflated tires due to the rocks, and so the car had a hard time in the sands. It took a while to climb ascents. But we’re doing well. We stopped once to change a tire right before the neutralization zone, but there were no technical problems, breakdowns, or anything like that. We lost drive towards the finish, but it didn’t affect the result in any way. There weren’t really any difficult sections, we were driving on a flat surface, so there were no losses.”
Preliminary results in the Challenger category after Stage 12:
1. P. Navarro and J. Rosa (Taurus) — 53h49.52;
2. Y. Seaidan and X. Flick (Taurus) +25.53;
3. N. Cavigliasso and V. Pertegarini (Taurus) +37.45;
4. L. Del Rio and B. Jacomy (Taurus) +39.53;
…
6. D. Zille and S. Cesana (Taurus) +1h22.02;
7. I. Casale and C. Sachs (Taurus) +1h52.57;
8. D. Akeel and S. Delaunay (Taurus) +2h15.20;
9. K. Benavides and L. Sisterna (Taurus) +2h36.51;
…
11. P. Goncalves and H. Magalhaes (Taurus) +3h30.45;
…
18. S. Remennik and A. Ignatov (Taurus) +12h47.19.
Tomorrow
YANBU > YANBU | Stage 13
January 17, 2026
Liaison: 33.2 km | Selective sections: 104 km | Total: 137.3 km
The stage will be divided into two fundamentally different sections. First, the competitors will encounter mountainous terrain and gravel roads, where precision and accuracy in cornering will be key. The route will then lead the caravan to the coast. After the neutralization zone, the crews will set off again for the final, timed section of the rally. The finish line of the stage and the rally as a whole will be located in the heart of the bivouac, where the tension of the past few days will give way to the celebration and joy of completing a two-week marathon.
After completing the distance, all finishers will experience an unforgettable moment – a ceremonial drive across the podium right at the seaside camp in Yanbu. Under the arch, the crews will proceed in the same order they started in the morning, proudly looking back on the two-week journey that brought them here. The separate awards ceremony for the winners of the world’s toughest marathon rally-raid, the Bedouins, will recognize their efforts and perseverance, highlighting their outstanding performance at the 48th edition of the Dakar Rally.
Source: Bonnevie Baffeleuf Racing) Motorsport // Sergei Remennik official press release
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