- The 44 FIM vehicles cleared to start the 2026 bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal (9 in RallyGP, 26 in Rally2, 6 in Rally3 and three quads) got the ball rolling on Tuesday with a short but sharp 3 km prologue in Grândola.
- The title holder, Daniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), started with a bang, setting the pace ahead of Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy Honda HRC). The top 10 are just 8 seconds apart.
- Jeremy Knuiman (Xraids Experience) enjoyed a winning debut in Rally2. The Rally3 and quad classes saw victories for the usual suspects Gonçalo Amaral (Wingmotor) and Antanas Kanopkinas (CFMoto Thunder Force).
- FIA scrutineering has now concluded, with 65 vehicles set to take the start of stage 1, including 43 registered in the W2RC (24 in Ultimate, 3 in Stock, 10 in Challenger and 6 in SSV). Follow the next stage live from the Race Center from 7:35 am (UTC+0).
FIM: SANDERS BEATS SCHAREINA BY ONE SECOND
Daniel Sanders had not won a prologue since the conclusion of his streak of four consecutive wins in 2025, a run that saw him wrap up the title with one round to spare. His last triumph had come right here in Grândola, six months ago. "Chucky" has returned to his best, pushing his record tally of special wins to 26. Tosha Schareina fell just one second short of the win, with teammate Ricky Brabec 3 seconds adrift. The KTM of Edgar Canet (+3″) and the Honda of Adrien Van Beveren (+5″) are not far behind.
Four Rally2 riders have muscled their way into the top 10, the elite bracket that earns the right to pick their starting positions for stage 1. A championship rookie, albeit one with a name synonymous with rally raids, claimed his maiden victory. Fresh off sixth place at the Enduropale du Touquet, Jeremy Knuiman crossed the line in sixth, a mere 6 seconds adrift of Sanders. At 23, he became the 123rd rider to take a win in the W2RC. It is also the first Dutch triumph on two wheels! Rally raid diehards will recognise the name "Knuiman" from his father, Henk, who cracked the Dakar top 10 twice and helped to catapult Marc Coma to the top spot in 2011. The up-and-coming Dušan Drdaj (Cajdasrot) and the experienced local Bruno Santos (BS — Frutas Patrícia Pilar) are hot on his heels, tied on the clock at just 1 second.
Gonçalo Amaral secured the first home win of the week in Rally3, repeating his performance from the 2024 prologue. He edged out the Frenchman Steve Pasco (RAW Motorsports, +9″) and Mongolia's Murun Purevdorj (Xraids Experience, +11″). It was a case of déjà vu for Antanas Kanopkinas in the quad race, as the Lithuanian took the prologue spoils just as he did in 2025. Fellow countryman Adomas Gančierius (+3″) ensured a CFMoto one-two.
True to his word (see below), Sanders picked fourth place in the start order selection for stage 1. Schareina went for a later start and will hit the road in 12th place. Nacho Cornejo (Hero MotoSports) will get the ball rolling at 7:35 am (UTC+0).
Daniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing): "The traction you see in the lines" "It was shorter than last year's test. We had a five-minute test last year. So any mistake was going to cost some time. [For tomorrow], I think it doesn't really matter if you're opening or tenth. It's more the dust and the sand. There's no opening bonus. Yeah, the only good thing if you see one line in front or two lines is the only… the traction you see in the lines. And it helps a little bit if it's slippery terrain or not. But, yeah, for tomorrow's stage, it's 100 kilometres. So, yeah, we'll start somewhere, I think, in the top five. It's not crazy, but yeah, short stage."
Jeremy Knuiman (Xraids Experience): "The ideal chance to bank some rally-raid experience" "I took part in an amateur rally in Poland last year to test the waters. I've been racing on sand for three or four years now, after starting out in motocross. I broke my leg last year, but I finished sixth at the Enduropale du Touquet last month, 3 minutes off the podium. Because my leg still gives me a lot of grief in motocross, we felt that coming here was the ideal chance to bank some rally-raid experience. If possible, I would love to move into the discipline permanently, just as my father did before me. This is my first international rally-raid. My only goal is to get a handle on the navigation and the feel of a rally bike while staying on the safe side. I'm not looking to run with the best, I'm simply here to learn the ropes and see how things go."
FIA: THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM
The FIA field sat out the prologue earlier today in accordance with the new regulations for 2026, which automatically determine the stage 1 start order based on the championship ranking (which, in this case, means the Dakar standings). Nasser Al Attiyah (The Dacia Sandriders), topping the board after his victory in Yanbu, will be the first car driver to start the special tomorrow at 10:20 am (UTC+0), ahead of Mattias Ekström (Ford Racing) and Sébastien Loeb (The Dacia Sandriders). The Frenchman will head into the special in front of the likes of Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC) and João Ferreira (Toyota Gazoo Racing SA), having underscored the mastery of both men on the singular tracks of the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal.
FIA QUOTES:
The following quotes are from today. Click here to read those from yesterday (Nasser Al Attiyah, Lucas Moraes, Carlos Sainz and Stéphane Peterhansel).
Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC): "That's the big unknown"
"We were really unlucky at the Dakar. It was not our year, it looks like. The positive is the car looked really good [in the open desert]. Now the question is a new car in a completely different type of terrain. This car has never been raced in these types of conditions. That's the big unknown. We'll know the answer to that probably after day one already. It's still a very new car. Its first full race was Dakar. We're not 100% in the [championship] fight and fighting for it ourselves. What we can control right now is making the car faster and racing the best races we can and trying to gain the most points we can."
João Ferreira (Toyota Gazoo Racing SA): "I'll do my best to avoid repeating that mistake"
"I'm on home soil here, so I'm feeling confident, but after my race ended with an excursion last year, I also know that I must not get overconfident. I was opening the course and didn't manage my pace as I should have. It's as simple as that. We've come a long way since last year, so I'll do my best to avoid repeating that mistake. We're wiping the slate clean and are going to try to bring the win home for Portugal, just as we could have done last year."
Mathieu Serradori (Century Factory Racing): "New Century Europe livery"
"This week, the car will break cover in its new Century Europe livery. The objective is to put the spotlight on this new outfit based in France, which has been set up to support all European customers for shakedowns and full-blown racing. We're obviously hungry for a top result after clinching sixth place in the championship at the Dakar. That spurred us on to contest as many rounds of the calendar as possible, but we've also come here to dial in a car that was built mainly for the desert."
Sébastien Loeb (The Dacia Sandriders): "The competition will be fierce"
"We understand that rain is on the cards for the rally. It's been very wet until now, even if the specials have likely dried out over the last few days in the sun, bar a few muddy patches according to the intel we have been given. It's likely to be even more slippery than last year. We know this is a rally where the margins can be razor-thin, so we must avoid mistakes and set a strong pace throughout. We also saw last year that some drivers can be incredibly quick in these conditions. These are the kind of conditions that South Africans like Henk Lategan are used to, and João Ferreira was also flying last year. We know the heat is on and that the competition will be fierce. We'll see what we can do."
Pau Navarro (Viking Challenger): "A new prototype built in Latvia"
"Following our Challenger victory at the Dakar, we have the opportunity to help develop a new prototype built in Latvia. We're giving the car its first competitive outing here. It's an exciting project. The design philosophy is very different, with a six-speed gearbox and an integrated rear differential developed in-house. It's hard to draw comparisons, it feels like a race car. The stopwatch will do the talking and we'll see where we stand after stage 1. This is a new experience for us and we hope to do a good job. After our recent win, it's the perfect time to try something different as we aim for a repeat performance next January."
Alexandre Pinto (Old Friends Rally): "It's a fresh start"
"Following a tough Dakar for us in the SSV class, we've been looking for a new dynamic to bounce back with our Old Friends Rally team. The opportunity to compete in the Challenger class with technical backing from Odyssey Academy by BBR came along. This is a class we know inside out from our national championship campaigns. In fact, it is where we appeared in the W2RC back in 2024. It's not a complete step into the unknown, but it's a brand-new car for us, with a gearbox. It's a fresh start. We have to get to grips with the machinery and take things one step at a time."
SCHEDULE:
- 18 March: stage 1 / Grândola (Portugal) – Grândola (Portugal) / total: 224 km / SS: 180 km / road section: 44 km
- 19 March: stage 2 / Grândola (Portugal) – Badajoz (Spain) / total: 548 km / SS: 377 km / road section: 171 km
- 20 March: stage 3 / Badajoz (Spain) – Badajoz (Spain) / total: 500 km / SS: 296 km / road section: 204 km
- 21 March: stage 4 / Badajoz (Spain) – Loulé (Portugal) / total: 638 km / SS: 315 km / road section: 323 km
- 22 March: stage 5 /Loulé (Portugal) – Loulé (Portugal) / total: 291 km / SS: 101 km / road section: 190 km
--final press conference
--prize-giving
Portugal: UTC +00:00
