Why Al-Attiyah’s Dakar legacy now belongs in Peterhansel territory

Nasser Al-Attiyah’s victory in the 2026 Dakar Rally came straight from the textbook. No matter what his rivals threw at him, the Qatari remained unflustered, playing the long game he has perfected over more than a decade in the world’s biggest cross-country rally.

While Ford and Toyota traded the initiative during the opening week, Al-Attiyah quietly remained in touch, doing just enough to stay in contention. When he finally struck on Stage 6, the timing could not have been better: the win lifted him to the top of the standings heading into the rest day. Psychologically, leading Dakar at the de facto halfway point is a powerful position, even if the second week was ultimately going to decide the winner.

It was therefore no surprise that the rally tilted definitively in Al-Attiyah’s favour during the two-day marathon stage. As his closest rivals fell away, largely through navigation errors of their own making, the 55-year-old resisted any temptation to chase stage glory, instead focusing on protecting his advantage and preserving his car.

Toyota rival Henk Lategan might still have trumped him but for a series of technical issues that forced him outside the top 10 come the final reckoning on Saturday. But as Al-Attiyah put it, “we need to take care about this car because it's very hard and very difficult”. In this regard, the Dacia Sandrider, contesting Dakar for a second time, was simply more reliable than the new Toyota Hilux, and Al-Attiyah made sure that he got the car to the finish on each day without running into serious issues.

No one captured Al-Attiyah’s approach better than team-mate and nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb, who finished just over 15 minutes behind in fourth.

“Nasser was untouchable,” said the Frenchman. “He wasn't necessarily always the fastest, but in any case he managed the race best: he didn't make any mistakes and always found the right pace.”

Al-Attiyah's consistency over the 2025 Dakar earned him praise, including from Loeb

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

While Al-Attiyah’s results did fluctuate from day to day, especially in the first week, he crucially avoided making the kind of errors that put Ford trio Mattias Ekstrom, Mitch Guthrie and Carlos Sainz Sr out of victory contention. Ekstrom scored more stage wins than any other driver in 2026 (three, plus the Prologue), but Al-Attiyah’s two perfectly timed victories proved decisive in his favour.

The achievement was made all the more special by the fact that he had a new co-driver in the form of Fabian Lurquin after ending his long-standing partnership with Edouard Boulanger, who instead teamed up with Loeb.

Although Al-Attiyah and Lurquin did get to bond with each other in the final two rounds of the 2025 World Rally-Raid Championship, their results – fifth in Portugal and 15th in Morocco – showed that their relationship was still in development. The lacklustre form at the end of the campaign also contributed to Al-Attiyah losing the W2RC title for the first time since the championship’s inception in 2022.

Peterhansel's place at the zenith of Dakar is secure, but it's hard not to put Al-Attiyah in the same bracket

Dacia team principal Tiphanie Isnard admitted that the title defeat was still weighing on Al-Attiyah and Lurquin as they tackled the Dakar together for the first time.

“They are working hard during the winter time, and obviously, after the disappointment of the championship loss, they work hard together to bring it back and to be concentrated from the beginning to the end of the rally,” she said.

Al-Attiyah is now just two wins shy of Stephane Peterhansel’s record of most victories in the cars category. If his current trajectory continues, it is no longer unrealistic to imagine that Peterhansel’s record will fall in the coming years.

Peterhansel took a record 14th Dakar victory, his eighth in cars, in 2021

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

Comparing Al-Attiyah with a legend like Peterhansel is a controversial topic. The Frenchman set standards that few thought anyone could match. His Peugeot years were particularly extraordinary, as he outgunned several factory rivals, not least Al-Attiyah, to score back-to-back wins in 2016-2017. But it’s also worth remembering that two of Peterhansel’s titles came during an era in which Mini enjoyed a clear technical advantage and limited manufacturer opposition.

By contrast, Al-Attiyah’s recent Dakar victories have largely been achieved during periods of intense multi-manufacturer competition. His 2026 win was one of his most impressive, primarily because he had to defeat so many drivers from Toyota, Ford and even Dacia to stand on the top step of the podium in Yanbu.

That said, Dakar’s move to Saudi Arabia in 2020 has certainly played into Al-Attiyah’s hand, effectively bringing the world’s biggest rally-raid to his backyard. The vast, open landscapes of Saudi Arabia reward precision and strategic restraint, traits that have defined Al-Attiyah’s style. And the fact that Peterhansel also conquered the Saudi era in 2021 only reinforces the scale of the benchmark Al-Attiyah is now chasing.

Peterhansel will always be considered Monsieur Dakar, just as Tom Kristensen remains synonymous with the Le Mans 24 Hours. The Frenchman is part of an exclusive club of three rallyists who have won Dakar on both two and four wheels (the others being Nani Roma and Hubert Auriol) and his place at the zenith of Dakar is secure. You can’t draw a fair comparison with someone who won Dakar on a motorcycle six times and then achieved even more success after transitioning to four wheels.

But purely looking at their achievements in what is now called the Ultimate class, it’s hard not to put Al-Attiyah in the same bracket. In an era where the Dakar is more competitive and embedded within a world championship structure, he is rapidly strengthening his case as the defining car driver of the modern age.

“I put it in my mind because I still need to break the record of Peterhansel in the car,” Al-Attiyah said with a smile, knowing that a record-equalling eighth win is now within reach.

Another two victories is all Al-Attiyah needs to equal Peterhansel's Dakar record in cars

Photo by: A.S.O.