The stage was full of drama and wasted time. Navigation traps and rally incidents thwarted the front-runners, while Sergei Remennik and Aleksei Ignatov, maintaining a calm and steady pace, demonstrated team spirit, helping their colleagues along the route.
By the ninth stage, the Dakar Rally had reached an important turning point. The second series of marathon stages marked the point where close competition is combined with increasing risks. Any mistake can cost tens of minutes or even eliminate a competitor from the fight for a high finish at the two-week competition end. The ninth stage from Wadi ad Dawasir to Bisha set precisely this long, independent, and treacherous context.
In the morning, the rally caravan left the hospitable oasis of Wadi ad Dawasir, lands associated with the ancient kingdom of Kindah and the homeland of the Dawasir tribe. The journey south and a two-day marathon stage with an overnight stay in an austere shelter, where the crews would have to rely solely on their own strength, were ahead.
However, the Organizers saw the idea of a marathon stage as merely a basic concept. They designed the route as a true test of endurance for body, mind, and vehicles. Navigation baffled even the very experienced co-drivers, and even recognized rally-raid champions lost their way in search of the right direction. The rocky sections, meanwhile, were unforgiving, turning every kilometer spent on them into a potential risk of a flat tire.
Stage nine in the Challenger category began in the same electric atmosphere that ended yesterday. The previous day, Puck Klaassen and Dania Akeel had taken the top two places at the same stage for the first time in the Dakar Rally history, with a gap of just three seconds between them. Today, Akeel has tried to put up a fight from the start, but was blocked by an army of rivals, led by Paul Spierings and David Zille, who had finished third and fourth the previous day.
The selective section start demonstrated just how close the battle was. At the 41st kilometer, Akeel, Klaassen, and Spierings posted identical times of 21 minutes and 4 seconds. The first eight cars were within 18 seconds of each other, and betting on the stage winner in such conditions would have been rash. At the 53rd kilometer, the rally delivered a surprise. Nicolas Cavigliasso stopped with a broken radiator, which proved to be a turning point in his battle for the final result. His teammate, Oscar Ral, tried to help, but it took a considerable amount of time to repair the car.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Paul Spierings confidently took the lead, cementing it after the 78th kilometer and maintaining the pace until the finish. Dania Akeel briefly managed to take over, but the close battle led to a mistake. She crashed into a tree and lost a total of about half an hour recovering her car. Kevin Benavides, David Zille, and Puck Klaassen brought up the rear. Ultimately, Spierings took his second stage victory of the rally, demonstrating his skill. Benavides became the runner-up, just 1 minute and 20 seconds behind, while Zille beat Klaassen by 40 seconds, rounding out the podium finishers.
Pau Navarro remains the Challenger category overall leader. Cavigliasso’s problems have opened up some room for maneuver. His closest pursuers, Saudi Arabian Yasir Seaidan and Chilean Lucas del Rio, are within a comfortable handicap for the Spaniard. The day was a heavy blow for Cavigliasso, who now trails more than an hour behind the main group of pursuers. This stage once again underscored how unpredictable and close the battle in the Challenger category remains.
At the ninth stage, Sergei Remennik and Aleksei Ignatov continued at their usual steady pace, carefully navigating the sandy sections. They reached the 186th kilometer waypoint in 10th place, 7 minutes and 35 seconds behind the day’s leader, but unexpected delays arose along the way. First, they stopped around the 195th kilometer near Dania Akeel and lost about 7 minutes helping repair the aftermath of her collision with a tree. Later at the selective section, they stopped near Akeel again, handing over their entire water supply to the crew so that the driver could bring her Taurus to the finish line.
The most significant loss of time occurred after the 280th kilometer, where about a dozen cars of all categories were already circling, caught in a navigation trap, searching for the right direction. Remennik and Ignatov spent more than 15 minutes finding their way and getting on the right track, after which they continued driving, maintaining the steady pace characteristic of their style and willingness to help their BBR Motorsport teammates.
Alexey Ignatov, co-driver, “After the refueling zone, Dania Akeel was standing steel. They’d crashed into a tree and broken a steering rod. Sebastien was already repairing it, and we helped out a little with an extra pair of hands. Then they stopped again. In addition to the broken steering rod, the tree had hit the cooling system’s air intake and damaged the radiator. Consequently, the coolant started leaking. We stopped, gave up all the water we had, and I said, “Come on, top it up, try to make it somehow.” And we continued on.
Then there was a spot where, firstly, all the trucks overtook us, and we were following them in the dust, we were noticeably losing pace. Then there was a stretch of driving in the hors-piste. We had to drive for a long time along the paths, many kilometers without any waypoints. Apparently, they’d already been there before us. They’d made such a big mess, there were so many tracks. And, as I later realized, we were basically heading normally, in the right direction. But then a truck pulled up, and I said to Sergey, “Looks like the guys are lost; they can’t find a way. But if a truck is coming from there, that means we’re probably going the wrong way.” So we followed it, and a bunch of other people followed us. We circled around and around, and then I started looking for the road using indirect signs along the riverbeds, over the mountains. We eventually got there, but of course, it took a lot of time.”
Stage 9 preliminary results in the Challenger category:
1. P. Spierings and J. P. van der Stelt (Taurus) — 4h08.57;
2. K. Benavides and L. Sisterna (Taurus) +1.20;
3. D. Zille and S. Cesana (Taurus) +6.34;
…
6. P. Navarro and J. Rosa (Taurus) +20.01;
…
8. P. Goncalves and H. Magalhaes (Taurus) +24.08;
9. I. Casale and C. Sachs (Taurus) +30.58;
10. L. Del Rio and B. Jacomy (Taurus) +36.49;
…
19. D. Akeel and S. Delaunay (Taurus) +54.21;
20. S. Remennik and A. Ignatov (Taurus) +56:11.
It’s important to highlight that all team crews reached the shelter camp, where in the evening they will prepare their sports vehicles for the second part of the marathon stage.
BISHA (MARATHON 2) > BISHA | Stage 10
14 January, 2026
Liaison: 50.7 km | Selective section: 419.9 km | Total: 470.6 km
The second day of the marathon stage will focus on sand in all its forms! The dune section will be extensive, with a variety of colors and shapes. Those who master the art of sand driving will certainly be rewarded for tackling the soft dunes. The day will conclude with several more classic tracks, but the main goal is to complete this second series of marathon stages without crashing. Here, the title contenders will be under intense pressure.
At the end of the day, the assistance teams will meet up with their heroes again to get their vehicles in order after two days in the desert.
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