Pau Navarro and Brock Heger won the 2026 Dakar Rally in the Challenger and SSV classes respectively. The Spaniard followed compatriot Cristina Gutiérrez as Challenger category winner, while American Heger dominated the SSV class for Polaris RZR Factory Racing.
Navarro follows Gutiérrez in Challenger
Pau Navarro of Odyssey Academy by BBR was crowned Challenger class winner with a 23’22” advantage over local hero Yasir Seaidan. The Spaniard is the second driver from his country to win this class, two years after Cristina Gutiérrez. Remarkable detail: Navarro drove the same Taurus T3 Max with which his compatriot triumphed at BBR in 2024.
“We had to stay smart on the way to the finish,” said Navarro, who safely brought home his substantial lead. The driver expertly managed his comfortable margin during the final stage, in which he finished tenth, more than four minutes behind stage winner Kevin Benavides.
Cavigliasso holds podium by smallest margin
W2RC champion Nicolás Cavigliasso claimed the final podium spot with a minimal margin of just 1’17” over Chilean Lucas del Río. The Argentinian finished 35’52” behind winner Navarro, while Del Río ended up 37’09” back. The battle for the podium remained exciting until the end.
Del Río, racing for BBR Motorsport, delivered a strong final stage with the third-fastest time, just 1’17” behind stage winner Benavides, but it wasn’t enough to knock Cavigliasso off the podium.
Benavides closes with third stage win
Kevin Benavides put the perfect finishing touch on his Dakar with his third stage victory of this edition. A couple of hours after celebrating his brother Luciano’s victory in the motorcycle class, the Argentinian beat Lucas del Río by 1’17” and Yasir Seaidan by 1’30” in the finale.
Charles Munster delivered a strong performance with second place in the final stage. The Luxembourger, a rally specialist learning the ropes in rally raids, was 1’13” slower than Benavides but showed his best performance of the rally and flew the flag high for G-Ecko. Munster demonstrated his progression in the desert with an impressive final phase.
Dutchwoman Puck Klaassen also made her mark with the first G-Ecko in fifth place, 3’26” behind the winning Taurus. Klaassen, who raced alongside Augusto Sanz, finished fifth in the overall classification.
Stage wins and bad luck, two extremes for the Dutch
With two contenders for the overall victory, the Challenger class was very interesting from a Dutch perspective. Paul Spierings and Puck Klaassen started the rally strongly, with three stage wins (including the prologue) for Paul Spierings and two stage wins for Puck Klaassen. However, Spierings also had problems in four stages, which meant he was never really in contention for the overall victory. Klaassen had problems during stage four, the day after her first victory, which meant she could not finish higher than fifth overall.
Kees Koolen was fast at times, but couldn’t always keep up with the pace of the leaders. As a result, he didn’t get further than 12th place in the rankings. Lex Peters enjoyed driving his G-ECKO, and there was good momentum on board his buggy. Although Peters was hoping for a top ten finish, he didn’t get further than 16th place.
Debutant Pim Klaassen had bad luck in the prologue, which meant he was immediately playing catch-up. He showed that he is fast, but the Taurus also had some problems. For example, there were problems with the suspension in the second week, but he did help his niece Puck in the fourth stage, which limited her time loss somewhat. He finished 17th overall, a great result for the rookie.
Finishing was the goal for Riné Streppel, and he succeeded, driving fairly consistently around 30th position and finishing 27th. But most importantly, he won a medal! Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Dick van Culenborg and Henri van Steenbergen. Both had a lot of problems and lost a lot of time. For Van Culenborg, it was his first Dakar as a team member of Paul Spierings. He did not finish on time and therefore had to continue in the Dakar Experience.
Oryx Rallysport, the team of Henri van Steenbergen and Daniel Kersbergen, had many technical problems. From the clutch to the wiring harness, the GPR had a tough time. Kersbergen had to give up in the 7th stage, Van Steenbergen finished in the Dakar Experience.
Heger dominates SSV class
In the SSV class, there was no doubt about the winner. Brock Heger and Max Eddy of Loeb Fraymedia Motorsport – RZR Factory Racing drove to a dominant victory with more than an hour’s advantage over their nearest challenger. The Americans finished with 1h01’39” lead over Kyle Chaney and Jacob Argubright (Can-Am Factory Team).
Xavier de Soultrait and Martin Bonnet completed the podium for Polaris RZR Factory Racing at 1h25’25” from the winners. It was a 1-3 finish for the Loeb Fraymedia Motorsport team, underlining Polaris RZR’s dominance in the SSV class.
Can-Am takes six of top ten positions
Although Polaris RZR claimed the overall victory and third place, Can-Am dominated the midfield with six positions in the top ten. Kyle Chaney (second), João Monteiro (fourth), Jeremías Gonzalez Ferioli (fifth), Chaleco López (sixth) and Manu Andujar (seventh) ensured a strong team performance from Can-Am Factory Team and Can-Am Factory Team LATAM.
In the final stage, it was João Monteiro who set the fastest time for Can-Am, followed by Johan Kristoffersson (Polaris) and Jeremías Gonzalez Ferioli (Can-Am). Heger played it safe and finished sixth, more than enough to secure his comfortable lead.
Kristoffersson’s comeback after problems
Notable was the performance of Johan Kristoffersson and Ola Floene. The Swede and Norwegian finished eighth in the overall classification after significant problems earlier in the rally, but showed their speed in the final stage with the second-fastest time, just 14 seconds behind Monteiro.
Solid ride for Wouter Rosegaar
There was only one Dutchman competing in the SSVs: Wouter Rosegaar. He navigated for Richard Aczel, their second Dakar together. They had a plan beforehand: do our own thing. And that worked out fine. There were few surprises and they basically drove an invisible race. In the Dakar, that can sometimes be very nice. They finished 12th overall in the Can-Am. Their best daily result was 13th place in the fourth stage, and keeping on driving was the key to their final ranking.
Overall classification Challenger
1. Pau Navarro / Jan Rosa (Odyssey Academy by BBR) – 54h46’21”
2. Yasir Seaidan / Xavier Flick (Nasser Racing Team) – +23’22”
3. Nicolás Cavigliasso / Valen Pertegarini (Vertical Motorsport) – +35’52”
4. Lucas del Río / Bruno Jacomy (BBR Motorsport) – +37’09”
5. Puck Klaassen / Augusto Sanz (G Rally Team) – +54’12”
9. Paul Spierings / Jan Pieter van der Stelt (Rebellion – Spierings) – +3h12’46”
12. Kees Koolen / Jurgen van den Goorbergh (G Rally Team) – +4h27’43”
16. Lex Peters / Mark Salomons (G Rally Team) – +9h26’10”
17. Pim Klaassen / Mark Laan (DaklaPack Rallysport) – +11h13’19”
27. Riné Streppel / Lisette Bakker (Arcane Racing) – +26h13’40”
32. Dick van Culenborg / Mark Klinkhamer (Rebellion – Spierings) – +83h38’59”
33. Henri van Steenbergen / Daan van Ooijen (Oryx Rallysport) – +184h35’48”
Withdrawal
Daniel Kersbergen / Michiel Goegebeur (Stage 7)
Overall classification SSV
1. Brock Heger / Max Eddy (Loeb Fraymedia – RZR Factory) – 55u11’56”
2. Kyle Chaney / Jacob Argubright (Can-Am Factory Team) – +1h01’39”
3. Xavier de Soultrait / Martin Bonnet (Loeb Fraymedia – RZR Factory) – +1h25’25”
4. João Monteiro / Nuno Morais (Can-Am Factory Team) – +2h27’25”
5. Jeremías Gonzalez Ferioli / Gonzalo Rinaldi (Can-Am LATAM) – +2h50’44”
12. Richard Aczel / Wouter Rosegaar (South Racing Can-Am) – +10h31’53”
