Defender ends Dakar’s brutal Marathon Stage enduro with another win

Is it time to stop calling Defender driver Rokas Baciuška a ‘rising star’ yet? That’s how the 26-year-old has been billed so far during the 2026 Dakar Rally. But after winning part two of the second 48-hour ‘Marathon Stage’ in Saudi Arabia, he counts five stage victories on this year’s flagship rally-raid enduro alone (including three in a row) and now leads the overall Stock class by a huge three and a half hours. Maybe, then, he’s just a straight up ‘star’. 

The Wednesday running brought week two’s Marathon Stage to a close. This popular part of the Dakar format meant that, long before attention could turn to driving, competitors first had to pack down their tents and stuff away sleeping bags at the bare-bones overnight campsite in the middle of the desert. After a bowl of muesli for breakfast (a fry-up wasn’t part of the military rations, unfortunately), it was then finally out onto the 420-kilometre timed course. 

Otherwise known as ‘the one with all dunes’, Stage 10 headed south and took the convoy back in the direction of the Red Sea coastline. With the sandy surface being so soft, the crews had to keep an eye on the fuel gauge. Pinning open the throttle to avoid bogging down would leave them on fumes for the final stretch to the new ‘bivouac’ base camp in Bisha.

Baciuška was the driver to watch heading into the day. He won the equivalent leg of the Dakar in 2022 and 2025, first at the wheel of a buggy and then in the ultimate T1+ category for bespoke-built prototypes. But it was team-mate Stéphane Peterhansel who had the early edge in the Stock class for production-based vehicles. The French ace powered his Defender Dakar D7X-R - which uses a showroom-spec gearbox, drivelines, chassis and bodywork plus the 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 from the Defender OCTA – into a one-minute lead after the first 46 kilometres. 

The 14-time Dakar winner would fall back (getting stuck in the dunes only to be rearended by a passing truck certainly didn’t help his day), enabling Baciuška and co-driver Oriol Vidal to charge into first place come the checkpoint at 91 kilometres. The duo quickly carved out a 20-minute gap to the chasing Toyota Land Cruiser of Ronald Basso and extended that margin to almost half an hour 200 kilometres in, as Defender’s Sara Price was running in third. 

Back under way, Peterhansel expertly clawed his way into P2. That teed up a tight battle with Price during the second half of the day. There was nothing to split the pair’s sector times as they took a 10-minute chunk out of Baciuška’s advantage. 

Even still, there was no catching the Lithuanian. He stopped the clock in just over six hours to seal a hat-trick of wins in Bisha and a fifth stage victory of 2026 - his third in as many days. That grows his overall lead in the Stock category to a formidable three and a half hours. 

“Today was tough – the most difficult Marathon stage,” said Baciuška, who repeated his week one effort by winning both parts of the 48-hour monster. “Oriol managed the stage well; it was not easy navigation. But we did it. Let's see how tomorrow goes, and after tomorrow, as we have more big stages, so let's keep the car in one piece. I'm happy, just a little bit tired.”

Price pipped Peterhansel on the run to the line. The American and her navigator Sean Berriman arrived home 21 minutes and 41 seconds after Baciuška in their bid to consolidate second on the combined leaderboard. The Prologue, Stage 2 and Stage 6 winner added: “[Yesterday and today] were a lot more difficult than I expected. We all thought we’d just get through Stage 9 with no problems, but it turned out 9 was a tough day. It was a very tough navigation day. It tested us and we did get lost but then we found our way, so that was good. Stage 10 was a big dune day, and we knew this was going be a day that shakes things up. It definitely did for us. But we made it back, and that's all that matters, so we persevered to keep on the podium.”

Peterhansel and co-driver Michaël Metge ended up just 45 seconds behind Price to complete a brilliant seventh podium lockout for Defender. After retiring from the stage on Monday, ‘Mr Dakar’ has dropped to fourth overall in the Stock class. He said: “It was a little bit of a strange day… We just got stuck in the dunes. Sara was there first and when I arrived, I tried to pass on the right but I got stuck also. We worked a lot to move the car but suddenly a truck arrived and crashed into the rear of my car.”

Only three stages remain, as the finish of the 2026 Dakar steadily rolls into view. Thursday’s route runs from Bisha to the Al Henakiyah ‘bivouac’ overnight camp. A fast 347-kilometre timed course will keep the navigators on their toes. Lots of junctions and forks in the road on Stage 11 will make it all too easy to take a wrong turn and lose time. There’s also a whopping 535-kilometres liaison section to negotiate before the day is done. Stay tuned for updates.

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