Dakar’s second Marathon Stage begins with Baciuška dominating for Defender

You’d have thought the name was enough of a giveaway. It’s a ‘Marathon Stage’. Not a sprint. But Rokas Baciuška obviously missed that memo. The Defender driver dominated Stage 9 of the 2026 Dakar Rally. He won the Stock class by a mammoth half an hour ahead of team-mate Sara Price to uphold the brand’s 100% winning record so far in Saudi Arabia. 

Since a second week on the Dakar meant a second Marathon Stage, the Tuesday timetable formed only the first half of this 48-hour test of stamina. The motorbike riders embarked on a different route, clearing the course for the car crews to start earlier to give them more time in the evening to tend to repairs. See, Marathon rules leave competitors to their own devices. The team mechanics don’t go to the spartan overnight camp to help. It’s up to the drivers and navigators alone to keep themselves in contention with the tools and parts packed onboard.

Before worrying about a potential late bedtime, though, they first had to make it to the end of Stage 9. The 410-kilometre timed leg headed north, away from the valleys of Wadi ad-Dawasir and into the heart of the desert. A fast start slowed into winding rocky tracks through the mountains. Some spectacular canyon passes then gave way to a final stretch of soft dunes. 

A snapped alternator belt on Monday forced Defender’s Stéphane Peterhansel and co-driver Michaël Metge to stop and wait for an assistance truck. On top of that initial delay, they earned a 24-hour penalty for leaving the stage. But not only was the 14-time Dakar winner able to resume, he flew out of the gates on Stage 9. Brushing off the trials of the previous day, he led Baciuška and Price in the Stock class by a minute through the first checkpoint.

His advantage out front tripled (now ahead of the Toyota Land Cruiser of Ronald Basso) after 78 kilometres and was up to a mighty four minutes at the next checkpoint. Then Peterhansel’s charge was hindered by the first of two broken shock absorbers picked up on the harsh terrain. Pausing for repairs at the assistance pit stop, turned the tide in favour of Baciuška. Victorious on Stages 1, 5 and 8, the Lithuanian and navigator Oriol Vidal surged into first place past the 186-kilometre mark. 

Continuing to put the hammer down, Baciuška was 11 and a half minutes clear of the pack three quarters of the way through. In a league of his own on the run to the line, the 26-year-old ended Stage 9 in 4 hours 36 minutes and 24 seconds. That gave him a massive winning margin of 29 minutes 39 seconds. Even better, his lead in the overall Stock category now stands at well over three hours. 

“The stage again was long,” said rally-raid rising star Baciuška. “The first part was rocky with some twisty corners, but it was a nice stage. At the end, the final kilometres of dunes were really difficult. They were very soft. If you do not cross them very well, you can you get stuck and spend a lot of time there. We brought the car home in one piece. We’ll check it over now and let’s see for tomorrow – even more dunes!”

Price and co-driver Sean Berriman banked second place on the stage, firming up P2 on the combined leaderboard in the Stock division for production-based cars. The Defender Dakar D7X-R takes it 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 straight from the Defender OCTA and even features a showroom-spec gearbox, drivelines, bodywork and chassis.

Peterhansel wound up 45 minutes off Baciuška to collect fifth on the day behind two Toyotas. Massively accustomed to the topsy-turvy nature of the flagship off-road event after 35 previous entries, ‘Mr Dakar’ said: “Yesterday was a complicated day. In the middle of the stage, we had a problem with the alternator belt. That meant it was not possible to continue while we waited for the trucks. But at the end, we had nothing else to repair. We finished super late and took a big penalty. But we finished the day, so we’re still in the competition. 

“This morning, we started well. Just before the [halfway pitstop], we had a broken shock absorber. We fixed it but it broke again 30 kilometres before the end, so we finished super slowly. But we made it, so it’s not so bad.”

As much as competitors might want to check into a five-star hotel and have a hot shower, the Marathon format instead leaves them to dine on military rations, pitch a tent and climb into a sleeping bag at the ‘bivouac’ refuge camp. Then it’s straight into Stage 10. Part two of the Marathon takes the cars on a sandy 421-kilometre timed course, one that’s scattered with dune fields, on the way to the new base camp in Bisha. Come back here for more updates. 

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