Summarize

South Africans Saood Variawa and French Navigator Francois Cazalet, and Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings fought back to a Toyota 1-2 on Monday’s eighth stage of Dakar 2026. Latgan and Cummings also clawed back to third overall. Their rivals, German Mattias Ekström and Emil Bergkvist’s Ford Raptor in second overall, and leaders, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin Dacia Sandrider followed the Overdrive Toyota Hilux duo home.

Monday’s longest 483 km special of Dakar 2026 started fast before a series of dunes and then quick tracks to the north for a little rocky running, before winding back to the service bivouac. US crew Mitch Guthrie and Kellon Walch were quick off the mark in their Ford Raptor to lead 

Frenchmen Mathieu Serradori and Loïc Minaudier, once again fast through the opening  sector in their Century Factory CR-7. 

Second overall, Ekström and Bergkvist’s Raptor followed from American Seth Quintero and Andrew Short's Overdrive Gazoo Toyota Hilux, a resurgent Belgian Guillaume de Mevius and Mathieu Baumel in their Mini John Cooper Works and Brazilian Lucas Moraes and Dennis Zenz' Dacia Sandrider. Fourth overall, Lategan and Cummings followed from third men, Spaniards, former car and bike winner Nani Roma and Álex Haro's Ford Raptor, two places clear of overall leader, Qatari five-time Dakar winner, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin's Dacia Sandrider. 

Just twelve seconds separated the entire top twelve. Lategan then took advantage albeit by just five seconds from Guthrie, Roma, French nine-time World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb and Édouard Boulanger, Al Attiyah and Moraes’ Sandriders all within 30 seconds. Once again, Lategan commanded the pace as he opened up the gap up front, passed Roma and closed down on Erickson in second in the  virtual overall standings. 

On the road, Guthrie was second from Loeb, Al Attiyah, Roma and Quinteiro. Lategan however  lost almost a minute in the following sector as Guthrie moved ahead of Loeb, Roma, Lategan, Attiyah, Quinteiro and Ekstrom with the top end of the virtual leaderboard swapping places as quickly as the live action. Guthrie then hit a glitch to drop behind Loeb, Lategan back on the charge, Ekstrom, Quinteiro, Guthrie, Attiyah and Roma all within 40 seconds. 

Lategan was back into the lead by the next waypoint and opened up the advantage to Loeb until Al Attiyah and then Ekstrom moved up to second on the road in defence of his second overall. The top three overall ultimately ended the day in reverse order, Lategan 28 seconds clear of Ekstrom with Attiyah third and a minute thirteen seconds off the pace. Only for the lot of them to be eclipsed by South African Champion Saood Variawa and Frenchman Francois Cazalet's Gazoo Toyota Hilux .

The rival SVR Hilux dup had run strong well within the pack and sat sixth with a sector to go, but they surprised their rivals by leapfrogging to the stage win.. Quintero likewise clutched his way back to fourth  on the day ahead of Attiyah in the end, with Spain’s four-time Dakar winner Carlos Sainz and Lucas Cruz Ford Raptor sixth from de Mevius in the Mini, Loeb and Roma.

South Africans, Brian Baragwanath and Leonard Cremer ended tenth in their Century Factory CR-7 ahead of teammate Serradori, who lost time after a navigation error in the second segment. They were followed by and Guthrie’s Raptor, while another South African, Guy Botterill and Spaniard Oriol Mena’s SVR Hilux was 18th. 

Overall, Al Attiyah’s Dacia lead’s Ekstrom’s Ford by just four minutes with Lategan another two minutes back in third. Roma is nine minutes behind in fourth with Sainz and Loeb close behind. Serradori is eighth,  Variawa 14th, Botterill 17th and Baragwanath 18th.

Tuesday is another big day with 418 kilometres of racing to the second no-service Marathon stage bivouac in the middle of the Arabian Desert. Your Dakar Car Report is powered by Toyota Gazoo Racing. Click here for the Dakar Bike report.