2026 Dakar’s in the books… multiple podium results across two classes for Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally racers

With desert life getting back to normal in and around Saudi Arabia’s capital of Riyadh and the outlying host cities, the phenomenon of the 48^th running of the Dakar Rally is in the books, with the Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally program scoring multiple podium finishes across both the premier RallyGP class and the support Rally2 class.

And while there’s a ton of positive for the race program to take away from the two week long event, there was also a bit of heartache to address, namely Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally’s Ricky Brabec gifting (via a navigational error) what would have been his third Dakar title to KTM’s Luciano Benevides, by two seconds, on the last day of racing and rookie Dakar racer Preston Campbell (Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally) leading the majority (7) of Dakar’s 13 stages, only to lose the lead to KTM’s veteran Dakar racer Toni Mulec in the latter stages of the race, taking 2^nd place by just several minutes.

“Probably, the biggest mistake in my whole racing career – which was losing the race in the last three kilometers,” said Brabec, who won Dakar in 2020 & ’24 and was the first American to win the great race. “Right now I’m really angry about my situation at Dakar, but I’m also even more hungry now than I was in December before the Dakar.”

Added Campbell: “I’m super happy to make it to the finish. It was a long two weeks and lots of things could happen. So just to be able to arrive at the finish is an accomplishment. And to get a good result is even better.”

Focus now for Brabec and Campbell and the rest of the Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally program, along with the Hero Motosports, powered by Monster Energy, rally program shifts to Round 2 of the 2026 FIM World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC), the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid, Portugal, set for March 17-25 in and around the picturesque territory of Iberia.

Recapping Dakar, joining Brabec on the RallyGP podium was Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally’s Tosha Schareina. The Spanish great fought valiantly throughout the 13 rounds of Dakar racing, rallying back from an early-stage penalty that saw him mistakenly start from the wrong position at the Marathon Stage bivouac, and was assessed a 10-minute penalty. Moving forward, Schareina would win three Dakar stages (3, 4 & 9) and podium in two more, Stages 6 (2^nd) and 12 (3^rd).

“Two years ago, I was fighting just to be in this race,” said Schareina. “Today, standing on the podium almost feels like business as usual.”

Rounding out the Dakar top ten scoring in the RallyGP division for Monster Energy was Skyler Howes (Honda HRC Rally) in 4^th place. Howes had an excellent Dakar, scoring his first career stage win (Stage 11) – en route to his top five position. Howes’ teammate, Adrien Van Beveren, would score a stage win (Stage 10) and two additional stage podium finishes (2^nd Stage 11 and 3^rd Stage 7) for 6^th place overall, giving Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally four trophies within the top six.

For Hero Motosports, powered by Monster Energy, Ignacio “Nacho” Cornejo would score one podium finish, a 2^nd place run on Stage 5, to lead the Hero team with a consistent 7^th place overall RallyGP finish. And rounding out the top ten in scoring was 2024 W2RC overall champ, Hero’s Ross Branch, in 8^th position.

On the Rally2 bikes, joining his Monster Energy/Honda HRC Rally teammate Campbell on the podium was another Dakar rookie, Martim Ventura. Portugal’s top up-and-coming rally racer, Ventura put up some spectacular stage efforts at Dakar, winning Stages 2 and 11 and placing 2^nd on Stages 1, 3, 8, 12 and 13.

Also noteworthy… in the Stock Car division, racing the all-new Defender Dakar D7X-R for the Defender Rally team, Monster Energy’s Sara Price, along with navigator Sean Berriman, would place 2^nd overall.

“Dakar Rally was just incredible,” said Price. “We had a goal at the final stage to get to the finish line as a team together. To see the whole Defender team there at the finish line and feel that energy and emotion really shows what this is all about. To finish P2 in our first year with Defender, to win the prologue and take victories on Stages 2, 6, and 12, and to bring the team home P1 and P2, is just unbelievable.”

2026 Dakar Rally FINAL Standings (through 13 of 13 stages)

Place/Name/Team

RallyGP

2^nd – Brabec (+ 00:02)
3^rd – Schareina (+ 25:12)
4^th – Howes (+ 56:41)
6^th – Van Beveren (+ 01:04:46)
7^th – Cornejo (+ 01:39:50)
8^th – Branch (+ 02:49:15)

Rally2

2^nd – Campbell (+ 04:37)
3^rd – Ventura (+ 01:37:15)

Stock Car

2^nd – Price (+ 03:58:00)

Up next… Round 2 of the 2026 FIM World Rally-Raid Championship, the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal, is set to go off March 17^th through the 25^th.