Overview
- Luciano Benavides won the Riyadh–Wadi ad-Dawasir motos stage over 459 km of special, moving to third overall just 4m40s behind leader Daniel Sanders and 15s behind Ricky Brabec.
- Kevin Benavides claimed his first Challenger (T3) stage win in cars at 4h22m57s, finishing 4m39s ahead of Yasir Seaidan, though he remains over three hours behind overall leader Pau Navarro.
- Jeremías González Ferioli took the Side by Side (SSV) stage by seven seconds over Kyle Chaney, placing him ninth overall and nearly three hours off leader Brock Heger.
- For the first time in Dakar history, two brothers won stages on the same day in different categories, and Argentina celebrated a rare triple of stage victories across motos, Challenger and SSV.
- Stage 8 is a Wadi ad-Dawasir loop with a 481 km special, after which the two-part marathon will test road opening, navigation and mechanical care as the leaderboard pressure intensifies.