Dakar 2026, Stage 10: Serradori wins stage, Al-Attiyah retakes overall lead

Mathieu Serradori claimed a dominant win for Century in the 10th stage of the Dakar Rally, as Dacia’s Nasser Al-Attiyah returned to the top of the overall standings.

The 420km test around Bisha marked the second part of the marathon stage, which meant drivers started the day with cars that they had manually serviced overnight in the absence of external assistance.

Driving the Audi-powered Century CR7, Serradori stood in second place after the first quarter of the stage, running just five seconds adrift of the factory Ford of Mattias Ekstrom.

So, when Ekstrom stopped on track just before the 100km mark with mechanical issues, Serradori assumed a lead he wouldn’t relinquish until the end of the stage.

The Frenchman gradually extended his advantage over Al-Attiyah in the second half of the day, pulling out a lead of more than seven minutes by the final checkpoint before the finish line.

His final winning margin was 6m12s, but the gap would have been much larger had he not been given a two-minute time penalty for overspeeding.

The result marked only the second individual stage win for both Serradori and Century after their previous triumph on Dakar’s inaugural visit to Saudi Arabia in 2020. It also means a total of five brands (Ford, Toyota, Dacia, Mini and Century) have registered at least one stage win in the 48th edition of the event.

#299 The Dacia Sandriders Dacia: Nasser Al-Attiyah, Fabian Lurquin

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Al-Attiyah himself was hit with a 40s penalty on Wednesday but managed to bring his car home in second place, boosting his chances of securing a sixth overall win in Dakar.

The Qatari’s team-mate Sebastien Loeb rebounded from a power steering issue that he had to fix himself overnight, finishing nine minutes off the lead in third place.

Behind, reigning World Rally-Raid champion Lucas Moraes rounded off a strong day for Dacia in fourth, finishing another 34s back in his Sandrider.

Toyota’s charge was led by Guy Botterill in fifth, while the marque’s leading hope Henk Lategan finished sixth after dropping 13 minutes over the course of the stage.

Factory Ford driver Mitch Guthrie took full advantage of his favourable starting position to grab seventh ahead of the privateer Raptor of Martin Prokop, with team-mate Nani Roma down in ninth.

However, it was a disastrous day for Ford overall, with two of its best contenders running into serious trouble.

Ekstrom could only clock the 13th-quickest time after stopping early on track, losing more than half an hour to the leaders, while Carlos Sainz Sr lost 20 minutes due to navigational errors, with a 15-minute penalty dealing a further blow to his victory hopes. Sainz provisionally finished the stage in 19th place, ceding 45 minutes in total.

#226 Ford M-Sport Ford: Mattias Ekstrom, Emil Bergkvist

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With most of the Ford contingent struggling, Dacia’s Al-Attiyah crept back to the overall lead, pulling out a sizeable advantage of 12 minutes over Toyota rival Lategan.

Overnight leader Roma slipped to third place, a further 50s behind Lategan, while World Rally Championship legend Loeb has gone in the other direction to claim fourth in the overall standings.

Serradori’s Stage 10 victory has elevated him to fifth, while Ekstrom and Sainz have dropped to sixth and seventh respectively - both facing a deficit of more than 30 minutes heading into Thursday’s stage from Bisha to Al Henakiyah.

Further back, Lucas Moraes sits eighth in the overall order, while Toyota’s Toby Price and Saood Variawa round out the top 10.

Dacia’s Cristina Gutierrez held the 10th spot overnight, but a barrel roll at the start of the stage lost her over 15 minutes. She managed to nurse the car back to the finish line, ending up 18th in the day’s classification and 14th in the overall standings.

Dakar Rally - Overall results after Stage 10: