Luciano Benavides made the most of his chance and delivered a strong comeback performance. Starting the stage in sixth place, the Argentinian used the fast and favourable terrain to his advantage and pushed hard throughout the special.
Benavides completed the 459 km stage in four hours, winning comfortably with a margin of 4 minutes 47 seconds over Edgar Canet and 4 minutes 57 seconds over Adrien Van Beveren. It marked his seventh stage victory at the Dakar Rally. Despite the win, the KTM rider remains third overall, now just 15 seconds behind second-placed Ricky Brabec.
The overall top three remains unchanged, with Daniel Sanders still leading. However, Sanders’ third-place finish means he will start earlier in the next stage, while Brabec, who sits 4 minutes 25 seconds behind, will benefit from a later start position that could help him gain time.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing continues to lead the rally, but the fight is far from settled. Tosha Schareina lost time after opening the road and now trails the leader by a little over 15 minutes.
In Rally2, Michael Docherty impressed again by finishing fifth overall on the stage to Wadi Ad-Dawasir. He also claimed his fifth class stage win of the season, a positive result after earlier setbacks hurt his overall chances.