[{"id":14742,"permalink":"https:\/\/dirtsportsworld.com\/2026\/01\/03\/2026-dakar-rally-underway-with-prologue\/","title":"2026 Dakar Rally Underway with Prologue","content":"Opening day for the 2026 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia began with the much-anticipated prologue. The Rally began at Yanbu with a 41km liason before reaching the 22km timed prologue stage. Terrain included a loop with high speeds and rock-littered tracks. Stage 1 of the Rally will begin from Yanbu early Sunday morning. Terrain will include sandy dunes and plenty of rocky terrain. It finishes fifteen days later along the Red Sea.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14744\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"800\"]\"\" Ricky Brabec has two overall Dakar Rally wins and is looking for a third this year. Photo: Monster Energy Honda HRC[\/caption]\r\n\r\nRicky Brabec has won the Rally twice and is looking for a third overall win. Brabec finished Saturday\u2019s Prologue in third place putting the Honda HRC team on the map. Skyler Howes is also riding for the Honda HRC team. Howes finished eighth in the Prologue. Spain\u2019s Edgar Canet won the day for the KTM Factory Racing team.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14745\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"640\"]\"\" Rising star Seth Quintero, who earned his first W2RC podium finish and a top-10 result at the 2025 Dakar, will drive the #203 Hilux with navigator Andrew Short. Photo: Toyota Gazoo Racing[\/caption]\r\n\r\nSeth Quintero is also at the Dakar Rally competing with the Toyota Gazoo racing team. \u00a0\u201cI feel confident, motivated and ready to race. I have a different feeling just because of the work TGR W2RC has put into the car and into me. I\u2019m very excited to get behind the wheel of the new DKR GR Hilux and explore new possibilities. I\u2019ve already seen the speed from testing, and it is confidence inspiring. We\u2019ve got an amazing team with amazing team-mates. I\u2019m sure we\u2019ll be fighting with each other at the front, but we are good friends, so it\u2019s going to be fun,\u201d said Quintero.\u00a0 Quintero will race across 5,000 miles of Saudi Arabia\u2019s most grueling terrain.","excerpt":"Opening day for the 2026 Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia began with the much-anticipated prologue. The Rally began at Yanbu with a 41km liason before reaching the 22km timed prologue stage. Terrain included a loop with high speeds and rock-littered tracks. Stage 1 of the Rally will begin from Yanbu","date":"January 3, 2026 11:45","categories":[{"id":25047612,"title":"News","slug":"news"},{"id":25047953,"title":"Rally","slug":"rally"}],"tags":[{"id":25049825,"title":"2026 Dakar Rally","slug":"2026-dakar-rally"},{"id":25047642,"title":"Dakar Rally","slug":"dakar-rally"},{"id":25049827,"title":"Monster Energy Honda HRC","slug":"monster-energy-honda-hrc"},{"id":25047641,"title":"Ricky Brabec","slug":"ricky-brabec"},{"id":25047646,"title":"saudi arabia","slug":"saudi-arabia"},{"id":25047961,"title":"seth quintero","slug":"seth-quintero"},{"id":25047967,"title":"skyler howes","slug":"skyler-howes"},{"id":25049066,"title":"Toyota Hilux","slug":"toyota-hilux"},{"id":25049826,"title":"Yanbu","slug":"yanbu"}]}]{ "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1.1", "user_comment": "This feed allows you to read the posts from this site in any feed reader that supports the JSON Feed format. To add this feed to your reader, copy the following URL -- https://dirtsportsworld.com/2026/01/03/2026-dakar-rally-underway-with-prologue/feed/json/ -- and add it your reader.", "home_page_url": "https://dirtsportsworld.com/2026/01/03/2026-dakar-rally-underway-with-prologue/", "feed_url": "https://dirtsportsworld.com/2026/01/03/2026-dakar-rally-underway-with-prologue/feed/json/", "language": "en-US", "title": "Comments on: 2026 Dakar Rally Underway with Prologue", "description": "The Voice of Off-Road Motorsports", "icon": "https://i0.wp.com/dirtsportsworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/cropped-DSW-Web-Icon.png?fit=59%2C59&ssl=1" }