Sanders Tops Rally-Raid Portugal
R
ed Bull KTM Factory Rac-
ing's Daniel Sanders won the
Rally-Raid Portugal, round two
of the 2026 FIM World Rally-Raid
Championship, with a hard-
fought performance that saw
the Australian lead the standings
from start to finish, March 15-20.
Covering a total of 1367 miles,
the third edition of Rally-Raid
Portugal delivered its trade-
mark mix of fast forest tracks
and sandy open sections after
traveling into Spain. However,
with torrential rain battering the
region, deep water and mud only
added to the challenge of the
six-day event.
Having had just two months
to heal up and recover following
this year's Dakar Rally, where
he completed the event with an
injured shoulder, Sanders came
out swinging in Portugal, topping
the short but intense opening
1.9-mile Prologue by a single
second.
After laying down the gaunt-
let to his rivals early on, Sand-
ers backed up his Prologue
performance on the first full
Stage of the event by topping
the timesheets by two minutes
and 10 seconds after 112 miles
raced against the clock.
What then followed was a
fierce battle between Sanders
and his closest rival, Monster En
-
ergy Honda's Tosha Schareina,
with the pair exchanging Stage
wins for the remainder of the
rally. Stage two went the way
of the Spaniard, Schareina, but
"Chucky" maintained his overall
lead.
Sanders kept the momentum
rolling on Friday's Stage three,
taking control of the wet condi-
tions and technical navigation
on the demanding 311-mile loop
around Badajoz, Spain, to further
extend his lead at the top of
the standings. Despite placing
second on Stage four as the rally
returned to Portugal, the Red
Bull KTM rider dropped just over
one minute to the winner, main
-
taining a vital one-minute-and-
46-second advantage heading
into the final day.
WIND
IN THE
P44
Daniel Sanders won the
Rally-Raid Portugal by just
under two minutes.
