The organisers of the Dakar Rally unveiled the complete route for the 48th edition in Jeddah on Wednesday. With nearly 5,000 kilometres of timed stages, it will be one of the longest and toughest editions in the modern era. Notable: there will be two marathon stages, but no 48-hour stage.
The seventh Saudi edition of the Dakar takes place from 3 to 17 January 2026 and starts and finishes in Yanbu, the port city on the Red Sea. Reigning champion Yazeed Al Rajhi attended the route presentation to get a preview of the course on which he will have to defend his title.
Record number of kilometres
Competitors face a challenging loop of approximately 8,000 kilometres, of which 4,900 kilometres count towards the classification for cars and trucks. For the motorbikes, it’s 4,748 timed kilometres. This makes it the longest Dakar ever in Saudi Arabia in terms of special stages.
“The difficulty is different from last year or the year before, because now the number of kilometres is the main factor. We have almost 5,000 kilometres of timed stages and that’s a lot. It’s been a long time since we’ve had this many kilometres. I think this is one of the longest Dakars ever. We’re at almost 4,900 kilometres and that’s enormous,” explains Dakar director David Castera.
The roadbook consists of a prologue on 3 January, followed by thirteen stages. Halfway through the rally there’s a rest day in the capital Riyadh. From fast tracks alternating with sandy and rocky sections to dune fields as far as the eye can see, and XXL stages where endurance will be key to success. All the ingredients of a classic Dakar are present.
Two marathon stages as new concept
A notable innovation is the introduction of two marathon stages, a new variant on the traditional marathon concept. In both cases, competitors spend the night in a basic ‘refuge-style bivouac’ where no mechanics are present. They are completely on their own and can only rely on help from fellow competitors.
The first marathon takes place midway through the first week between stages 4 and 5, the second between stages 9 and 10. An extra challenge: during these four stages, cars and motorbikes follow different routes, so they cannot benefit from each other’s tracks.
“Race management and stamina will be key,” according to the organisation.
No 48-hour stage
What’s missing from the 2026 route is the 48-hour stage, which had been a regular feature of the programme in recent years. Castera explains why: “It’s not there because last year we had a small problem, especially with the cars, but also with the motorbikes. It was mainly about strategy and starting order. A 48-hour stage doesn’t really help in that respect, so I scrapped it. Last year we already saw that many competitors deliberately stopped at the end of stages so they could start later the next day. So they deliberately lost time.”
The Empty Quarter, the famous dune area that provided spectacular images in previous editions, is also absent from this year’s route.
Tough final phase
After the rest day in Riyadh, it doesn’t get any easier. The return journey to Yanbu is at least as tough as the outbound leg. Stage 7 takes the field to Wadi Ad-Dawasir, which last hosted the rally in 2022.
Stage 6, at 925 kilometres (336 against the clock), becomes the longest stage of the entire rally and plunges competitors into a sand and dune fest just before the rest day.
In the final phase, a treacherous navigation stage between Bisha and Al Henakiyah (stage 11) awaits, which could be decisive for the final result. With more than 1,700 kilometres to go after the second marathon, including 762 timed kilometres, even the last grain of sand can make the difference.
Strong competitor field
In total, 325 vehicles are on the entry list: 118 FIM motorbikes and 207 FIA entries (72 in Ultimate, 37 in Challenger, 43 SSVs, 8 in Stock and 47 trucks). In addition, 97 historic vehicles (74 cars and 23 trucks) will participate in the sixth edition of the Dakar Classic.
Saudi Next Gen and Mission 1000
The Dakar continues to invest in the future. The Saudi Next Gen programme, which started in 2025, delivers its first participants: Hamza Bakhashab/Raed Alassaf and Abdullah Al Shegawi/Fahar Alamr will start in the SSV category. A second group of young talent gets to prove themselves for five days in Yanbu.
The third edition of the Mission 1000 Challenge also kicks off, with seven fully electric motorbikes and a hybrid truck running on hydrogen and biodiesel. The Segways return with more powerful batteries, the Arctic Leopards are back with three Spanish riders, and the commercially successful Stark Future machines make their debut in two independent projects.
It all counts towards the first round of the World Rally-Raid Championship 2026, of which the Dakar is the season opener.
