David Castera unveiled this Thursday the route for the 48th edition of the Dakar, which will take place from January 3 to 17 from Yanbu to Yanbu, again in Saudi Arabia. A 920 kilometer stage will await the 812 competitors and Sébastien Loeb, favorite after his success in Morocco even though he has still not won the event.
The route of the Dakar 2026 is now known and it promises to be tough. It’s David Castera, the boss of the most famous rally-raid, who says it himself. “It’s going to be a tough Dakar,” the event director did not hide after lifting the veil on the profile of the 48th edition, which awaits from January 3 to 17 and still in Saudi Arabia the 812 competitors who will line up on the starting line, including 325 vehicles and 118 motorcycles.
Both the start and finish will be in Yanbu, this town located on the edge of the Red Sea in the west of the country which had already hosted the start in 2023 and hosted the finish a year later, in 2024.
A stage of… 920 kilometers!
Thirteen days of racing (and therefore thirteen stages) will be on the menu for this 48th Dakar of the name, which will be contested in the form of a loop of 8,000 kilometers, including 4,900 of timed sectors. It was important for the organizers to offer “a balance in the construction of the route, while maintaining an intact standard of difficulty”, explained Thursday the former pilot who finished the competition twice on the podium (in 3rd place).
The 54-year-old Béarnais also spoke about this 6th stage, with 920 kilometers to cover for the competitors (including a “one hundred percent sand and dunes) special on the eve of the rest day on January 10.
Finally a happy new year for Loeb?
“There will be a lot of dunes and some will spend the night there or even arrive in the morning,” announces Castera. It will be the longest of this edition and also one of the two marathon stages on the menu for this Dakar 2026 which will see the Qatari Yazeed Al-Rajhi, in the car category, and Daniel Sanders, in the motorcycle category, put their titles back on the line.
After signing his first rally-raid success since 2022, most recently in Morocco, Sébastien Loeb will be the big favorite in the car. However, the nine-time WRC world champion, unhappy since his debut on the Dakar, is still waiting for his first victory. The Alsatian will do everything not to have to wait another year.
