Monster Energy Honda HRC battle through Dakar’s longest special stage
The start of a new week and the final one of the Dakar Rally, delivered a formidable challenge for the Monster Energy Honda HRC riders, with today featuring the longest special stage of the 2026 event.
After arriving in Wadi ad-Dawasir yesterday, competitors faced a demanding loop to and from the bivouac there. Fast tracks through mountainous valleys combined with a vast playground of dunes in the spectacular Dawasir Valley made up the bulk of the 483 km special stage, with a brief stretch of rockier terrain before a high-speed, sandy run to the finish.
Provisional overall runner-up Ricky Brabec approached the stage with a clear strategy for the opening days of the final week. Starting tenth, he benefited from having tracks to follow, a factor that paid dividends as he consistently topped the timing checkpoints. At one stage, he built a gap of more than two minutes over Daniel Sanders as strong winds added another layer of difficulty. However, eventual stage winner Luciano Benavides capitalised on the bonus time awarded for opening the stage, and Brabec ultimately finished third, five minutes adrift. The reshuffle in the standings drops the American to third overall, now 4’47” behind leader Benavides.
Tosha Schareina continues his push back toward the front after last week’s penalty. Finishing fourth, nearly ten minutes off the winning pace, he was visibly deflated at the end of the gruelling day. The gap to the overall lead now stands at fifteen minutes as he works to close in on the provisional podium.
Adrien Van Beveren’s recent bike setup changes on his Honda CRF450 RALLY continue to pay off. After finishing third yesterday, the Frenchman was only a couple of minutes behind Schareina today, despite a slight detour along the route. While he now sits over an hour down overall, Van Beveren was pleased to have regained confidence and a positive feeling on the bike, with a renewed focus on riding fast.
Skyler Howes maintained his steady progress despite being caught out by challenging sandstorm conditions. Unfazed, he delivered another consistent performance with a top-six finish, just behind Schareina and Van Beveren. Remaining fifth overall, Howes will be aiming for a stronger result tomorrow as the first part of the marathon stage begins, while hoping to avoid the tyre issues that troubled him during last week’s marathon.
Tomorrow marks the opening leg of the marathon stage. Having already endured one earlier in the rally, tyre management will once again be crucial, having proven to be the source of the biggest surprises. With a total of 541 km to cover, the distance may be shorter than recent stages, but reaching the marathon bivouac north of Bisha without issue is vital. Once there, riders will again be without assistance and face another night camping under the stars.
Ruben Faria
It was another fast stage again. We thought it would have worked for us to start further back, in reality it was a really fast stage with not too much navigation and the riders that started at the front did a good job to stay out front. Skyler finished in sixth as he made a small navigation mistake, however, it was quite a good day for him. Adrien also rode a good stage and was amongst the frontrunners, but he made a mistake, more or less in the middle of the stage and he lost around four minutes to finish in fifth. Not up to his usual pace, Tosha didn’t feel comfortable with the bike and could only manage fourth. Third placed Ricky did a strong stage and he will start in a good position tomorrow for the first day of the second marathon stage. There’s still five days to go and of course we want more, we want to win. We have Ricky who is in a good group, he can win the Dakar and we will do the maximum to make this happen.
Ricky Brabec 9
Today’s stage I felt great, made no mistakes, rode as best and as fast as I could all day. It was another fast stage, near the halfway point there started to be a little bit of wind, actually a lot of wind. It was so windy, the top of the ground was covered in dirt, like one metre high, just blowing sand across, which made it a little bit difficult to see. Overall it was a fun stage as we had a mix of everything, a little bit of rocks, not as much as I would like, some fun sand dunes too, so it was a fun stage to ride. I rode by myself all day so maybe tomorrow I can catch up with the group in front of me and ride in a group.
Skyler Howes 10
There was lots of wind and there was a section out there where we went in the same direction as the wind and it was kind of a sandstorm. The sand was blowing on top of the ground, so you couldn’t actually see it and you were going the same direction so it was almost like you weren’t moving, but we were doing about 150km/h. It was really scary too as you couldn’t see if there were any bumps or anything. So, it was a kind of a crazy day, but otherwise I rode really smooth and consistently and I enjoyed the stage, it was another full gas day. I’m more or less happy to be at the finish, tomorrow we have another marathon stage so I’m going to have to manage the tyre much better than last time.
Adrien Van Beveren 42
It was a good day overall, I tried to push, I think I was doing a good pace with a good rhythm. Towards the end I was catching back up to Edgar Canet and I could see the CAP was going kind of wrong and I could see we were going out. I kept going because I wanted to catch him, but we had to turn around and I lost some time. But this is part of it, overall I’m happy with the feeling and confidence with the bike, the fun is back and this is the most important thing for me now.
Tosha Schareina 68
We expected something more, the tricky navigation was completely straight, nothing to do. I did my best, so we need to just try to keep going and try to push.
Rally GP Result - Stage 8
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Benavides Luciano | 1 | ARG | KTM Factory Racing Team | KTM | 04:26:39 |
| 2 | Sanders Daniel | AUS | KTM Factory Racing Team | KTM | + 04:50 | |
| 3 | Brabec Ricky | 9 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 05:02 |
| 4 | Schareina Tosha | 68 | SPA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 09:47 |
| 5 | Van Beveren Adrien | 42 | FRA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 11:56 |
| 6 | Howes Skyler | 10 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 12:32 |
| 7 | Canet Edgar | 73 | SPA | KTM Factory Racing Team | KTM | + 15:06 |
| 8 | Cornejo Florimo José Ignacio | 11 | CHI | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | + 17:13 |
| 9 | Evan Branch Ross | 16 | BWA | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | + 20:20 |
| 10 | Cox Bradley | 49 | RSA | BAS DAKAR KTM RACING TEAM | KTM | + 23:05 |
Rally GP Provisional Standings After Stage 8
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Benavides Luciano | 1 | ARG | KTM Factory Racing Team | KTM | 33:18:50 |
| 2 | Sanders Daniel | AUS | KTM Factory Racing Team | KTM | + 00:10 | |
| 3 | Brabec Ricky | 9 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 04:47 |
| 4 | Schareina Tosha | 68 | SPA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 20:13 |
| 5 | Howes Skyler | 10 | USA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 41:06 |
| 6 | Cornejo Florimo José Ignacio | 11 | CHI | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | + 45:58 |
| 7 | Van Beveren Adrien | 42 | FRA | Monster Energy Honda HRC | Honda | + 01:03:13 |
| 8 | Evan Branch Ross | 16 | BWA | Hero Motorsports Team Rally | Hero | + 01:55:02 |
| 9 | Cox Bradley | 49 | RSA | BAS DAKAR KTM RACING TEAM | KTM | + 03:27:16 |
| 10 | Klein Mason | 98 | USA | Hoto Factory Racing | Hoto | + 03:41:51 |
Location Information
The greatest and toughest rally in the world, the Dakar’s history has been written in the heart of some of the world’s most stunning deserts and belongs to the world of the greatest sporting challenges of our time. Both a motor race and an orienteering challenge, the Dakar Rally pits… read more.
