2026 World Rally-Raid Championship round two, BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal, sees Red Bull KTM’s Daniel Sanders back to winning ways with narrow Prologue victory, just one second ahead of Monster Energy Honda’s Tosha Schareina.

Riders got the ball rolling at the 2026 BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal with a short but sharp three-kilometre prologue in Grandola. Short and sharp meant close on times with the top 10 all within eight seconds of each other as they aimed for the best starting positions for tomorrow stage one.

The title holder, Daniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), started just as he did in last year’s event by setting the pace ahead of Tosha Schareina and Ricky Brabec (both Monster Energy Honda HRC) all three within three seconds – meanwhile the Dakar champion LKuciano Benavides is in 15th and a mighty (!) 12 seconds off the pace.

Repeat performance from Sanders   

Daniel Sanders had not won a prologue since the conclusion of his streak of four consecutive wins in 2025, a run that saw him wrap up the title with one round to spare. His last triumph had come right here in Grandola, six months ago and this prologue win pushes his record tally of special wins to 26.

Tosha Schareina fell just one second short of the best time, with teammate Brabec, KTM of Edgar Canet (+3″) and the Honda of Adrien Van Beveren (+5″) are not far behind.

Four Rally2 riders have muscled their way into the top 10, adding themselves in to the elite group which earns the right to pick their starting positions for stage one.

A championship rookie, sixth place finisher at the Enduropale du Touquet, Jeremy Knuiman crossed the line in sixth, six seconds adrift of Sanders for a maiden class win in R2. At 23, he became the 123rd rider to take a win in the W2RC. It is also the first Dutch triumph on two wheels. Rally raid diehards will recognise the name "Knuiman" from his father, Henk, who cracked the Dakar top 10 twice and helped to catapult Marc Coma to the top spot in 2011. The up-and-coming Dušan Drdaj (Cajdasrot) and the experienced local Bruno Santos (BS — Frutas Patrícia Pilar) are hot on his heels, tied on the clock at just one second, leaving some familiar names in both Rally 2 and Rally GP in their wake.

Gonçalo Amaral secured the first home win of the week in Rally3, repeating his performance from the 2024 prologue. He edged out the Frenchman Steve Pasco (RAW Motorsports, +9″) and Mongolia’s Murun Purevdorj (Xraids Experience, +11″).

True to his word (see below), Sanders picked fourth place in the start order selection for stage 1. Schareina went for a later start and will hit the road in 12th place. Nacho Cornejo (Hero MotoSports) will get the ball rolling at 7:35 am (UTC+0).

Daniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing):“It was shorter than last year’s test. We had a five-minute test last year. So any mistake was going to cost some time. [For tomorrow], I think it doesn’t really matter if you’re opening or tenth. It’s more the dust and the sand. There’s no opening bonus. Yeah, the only good thing if you see one line in front or two lines is the only… the traction you see in the lines. And it helps a little bit if it’s slippery terrain or not. But, yeah, for tomorrow’s stage, it’s 100 kilometres. So, yeah, we’ll start somewhere, I think, in the top five. It’s not crazy, but yeah, short stage.”

2026 Rally-Raid Portugal Results:

Photo Credit: A.S.O. | Edophoto | DPPI | Matteo Gebbia