Nasser Al-Attiyah grabbed his first stage win at 2026 Dakar in the 326km Ha'il-to-Riyadh run, reclaiming overall lead ahead of Dacia teammate Sébastien Loeb. While hypercar manufacturers spend nine figures chasing Le Mans glory, Dacia's rally program quietly proves that precision engineering and driver skill still matter more than horsepower headlines.

Sanjay Takale's 57-year-old HDJ100 Land Cruiser gave up in Stage 3 of Dakar Classic, even though the 100-series was leading its H3 class. The mechanical failure is a reminder that vintage iron—no matter how storied—is still vintage iron when you're crossing continents at rally pace.

Mitch Guthrie and Nani Roma swept a 371km desert stage, but Henk Lategan's Toyota isn't sweating. One stage win in rally raid is noise. Lategan's maintaining overall lead because consistency beats heroics on terrain that swallows mistakes.