7 Platinum, 21 Gold, and 15 Silver drivers comprise the FIA’s priority list for the 2026 cross-country rally season.

The priority driver system functions similar to the driver categorization used in sports car racing. Each of the three levels are attained by achievements in the World Rally-Raid Championship or any of the three Baja Cups, typically within the past three seasons (2023, 2024, 2025). Successes in any of the five most recent Dakar Rallies (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025) also factor into a driver’s priority status.

• Platinum
  • Top three points finishers in any of the last three W2RC seasons
  • Dakar Rally overall winners in the past five years
• Gold
  • Drivers earning points toward the W2RC’s manufacturer championship
  • Overall race winners in the past three W2RC seasons
  • W2RC Challenger and SSV champions in the past three seasons
  • Top-five finishers in the past five Dakar Rallies
  • Stage winners in the past five Dakars
  • Last season’s top three overall drivers in the FIA World Baja Cup
• Silver
  • Second and third place in the W2RC Challenger and SSV standings
  • Top three each in the World, Middle East, and European Baja Cups
  • All drivers signed up for the 2026 season

Perhaps the most notable change is the demotion of Sébastien Loeb from Platinum to Gold. He had been riding his 2022 runner-up W2RC standing to maintain Platinum status, and narrowly missed out on renewing it when he finished fourth in the 2025 points.

Henk Lategan, who beat Loeb by 28 points for third, traded in his Gold priority for Platinum. All other six Platinum drivers from 2025 stay the same.

The Gold and Silver drivers were updated to account for the 2025 standings. For example, Mitchel van den Brink and Sergei Remennik are priority drivers for the first time after respectively claiming the World Baja Cups in SSV and Challenger.

As the term suggests, priority drivers receive different treatment from others. For example, when setting the Stage 1 start order for those who didn’t pick their starting positions (the latter being the top ten in the Prologue), priority drivers will typically be given better grid spots than non-priority. Non-priority drivers also get points added to their license for speeding as opposed to fines for priority. On the other hand, being a priority driver means you can only get one stage penalty before being classified as a retirement (two for Dakar) whereas non-priority gets two chances (three at Dakar).

Priority drivers are also used by the FIA to collect data samples. Everyone with priority status must have connectors and piping for fuel samples installed on their cars, while Platinum and Gold drivers in T1+ are required to have a torque meter.

2026 priority list

Status	Driver
Platinum	Nasser Al-Attiyah
Platinum	Yazeed Al-Rajhi
Platinum	Henk Lategan
Platinum	Lucas Moraes
Platinum	Stéphane Peterhansel
Platinum	Carlos Sainz
Platinum	Juan Cruz Yacopini
Gold	Fernando Álvarez
Gold	Rokas Baciuška
Gold	Nicolás Cavigliasso
Gold	Guerlain Chicherit
Gold	Guillaume de Mévius
Gold	Giniel de Villiers
Gold	Mattias Ekström
Gold	Sébastien Loeb
Gold	Alexandre Pinto
Gold	Eduardo Pons
Gold	Sara Price
Gold	Martin Prokop
Gold	Jakub Przygoński
Gold	Seth Quintero
Gold	Sergei Remennik
Gold	Nani Roma
Gold	Yasir Seaidan
Gold	Orlando Terranova
Gold	Mitchel van den Brink
Gold	Saood Variawa
Silver	Dania Akeel
Silver	Khalifa Al-Attiay
Silver	Hamza Bakhashab
Silver	Rebecca Busi
Silver	Michele Cinotto
Silver	Enrico Gaspari
Silver	Eryk Goczał
Silver	Włodzimierz Grajek
Silver	Sebastián Guayasamín
Silver	Austin Jones
Silver	Pau Navarro
Silver	Marcelo Gastaldi
Silver	Shinsuke Umeda
Silver	Miguel Valero
Silver	Bartłomiej Wajzer

Featured image credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI / ASO