Kevin Benavides no longer races bikes alongside his younger brother Luciano, having retired from that life last year due to injuries. Still, they got a chance to share the top step together on Sunday when they won their respective categories.

Luciano was the fastest bike for Stage 7 while Kevin led the way in Challenger. They are the first pair of brothers to win the same Dakar Rally stage in different classes.

The older Benavides made the switch to driving last summer, showing solid speed but often taken out of overall contention by mechanical issues. Going up against much tougher competition at Dakar, he showed top-ten pace that peaked with a third in Stage 6 just before the rest day.

The second half of the rally began Sunday, from which Kevin got to work. He kept close with teammate Dania Akeel during the first before taking the lead halfway. Yasir Seaidan passed Akeel too, but couldn’t close the gap to Benavides as he won by 4:39.

On the two-wheeled side, Luciano dominated the stage ahead of KTM teammate Edgar Canet.

“I never dreamed something like this could happen,” said Kevin. “I’m so happy for this moment. It was tough to get this victory. When I finished the stage they told me that Luciano had also won. It’s a proud day for our family.”

Vaidotas Žala scored his first Truck stage win and his second at Dakar as a whole, having previously claimed the inaugural Dakar stage in Saudi Arabia six years ago when he raced cars. He is also the first driver to win a stage in a car and truck.

While Mitchel van den Brink still leads the Truck overall, a flat left-front tire that led to a debacle with the rim cost him the stage win on Sunday.

Stage 7 was described by Brian Baragwanath as fairly “easy” despite the rocky terrain and dunes, though the tire pressures were a bit high for the latter. Seth Quintero learned this the hard way when flats knocked him off the pace.

Quintero’s teammate Henk Lategan, who contended for the overall lead during the first half, took a hit with 30 kilometers to go that broke the right rear damper. This relegated him to 13th for the stage and fourth overall.

“It didn’t feel like a massive impact, but the damper snapped,” Lategan explained. “That was the stage effectively over for us. We stopped to replace the damper, but it had also damaged a driveshaft, an anti-roll bar and the radiator, so we had to limp to the end. Hopefully, we can have some better days and get back in front.”

As Karolis Raišys stormed off to another stage win in the Dakar Classic, Tomasz Staniszewski returned to form with a runner-up finish after his race was upended on the first day that kept him out for much of the race. Staniszewski is still dealing with some health issues that reduced his strength, but to still place second was certainly a confidence booster.

On the other hand, Maxence Gublin had a tough day in the dunes as he finished a disappointing 81st. The former Classic overall leader fell from fourth to 35th as a result.

Bradley Cox suffered a water pump failure with 91 kilometers to go, costing him two hours. Malle Moto rider Tiziano Internó pulled his Sherco to the finish.

Stage 7 winners

FIA

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
Ultimate	1	226	Mattias Ekström	Ford Racing	3:44:22
Challenger	38	347	Kevin Benavides	Odyssey Academy by BBR	4:22:57
SSV	58	406	Jeremías González Ferioli	Puma Energy Rally Team / Can-Am Factory Team	4:32:58
Stock	40	500	Stéphane Peterhansel	Defender Rally	4:26:54
Truck	42	604	Vaidotas Žala*	NØRDIS Team de Rooy FPT	4:27:24

FIM

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
RallyGP	1	77	Luciano Benavides	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	4:00:56
Rally2	6	14	Michael Docherty	BAS World KTM Racing Team	4:08:34

Other

Class	Number	Competitor	Team	Points
Classic	703	Karolis Raišys*	Ovoko Racing	61
Mission 1000	1040	Jordi Juvanteny*	KH-7 Ecovergy Team	22

Leaders after Stage 7

FIA

Class	Overall	Number	Driver	Team	Total Time
Ultimate	1	299	Nasser Al-Attiyah	Dacia Sandriders	28:10:15
Challenger	26	336	Pau Navarro	Odyssey Academy by BBR	31:17:03
SSV	30	401	Brock Heger*	LOEB FrayMédia Motorsport	31:42:13
Stock	51	502	Rokas Baciuška	Defender Rally	33:33:48
Truck	40	601	Mitchel van den Brink*	Eurol Rally Sport	32:44:49

FIM

Class	Overall	Number	Rider	Team	Total Time
RallyGP	1	1	Daniel Sanders	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	28:47:31
Rally2	9	85	Preston Campbell	Monster Energy Honda HRC Rally2	30:31:03

Other

Class	Number	Competitor	Team	Points
Classic	703	Karolis Raišys*	Ovoko Racing	448
Mission 1000	1040	Jordi Juvanteny*	KH-7 Ecovergy Team	122

Featured image credit: Florent Gooden / DPPI / Red Bull Content Pool