Botswana’s motor biker Ross Branch known as the ‘Ferrari of the Kalahari’ left Botswana’s flag waving with pride along the shores of the Red Sea on Saturday after making a stunning overall finish at the just ended 2026 FIA/FIM World Dakar Rally-Raid Championship. Powered by Hero Motosport Team Rally, the Ross clinched an 8th overall finish as a result of his top notch riding spectacle marked by consistency, bravery and commitment beating all the odds that he encountered along the hostile terrains across the Arab Desert.Ross wrapped up all the 13 stages that were a complete puzzle of the most adventurous and the world’s greatest desert rally-raid that was raced in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia. It was a bravo for Ross on Saturday noon upon completion of a fortnight long 8000km of riding his Hero 450 Rally two wheeler in the wilderness in search for the crown.
This is a great achievement that Ross’s manager Aimee Branch described as an incredible grit and heart through the setbacks thrown his way, and some well-earned, valuable World Rally-Raid Championship points. “It is not what we wanted to be, obviously we wanted to be fighting for the top but that is Dakar rally and it happens.I thank the entire team for they have been incredible and the bike has been amazing,” she said. Ross’s teammate, Ignacio Cornej from Chile finished seventh.The duo both shared big times during this year’s episode with Ross having a bullish start winning stage 1 before he was penalised for over speeding and later lost further time due to tyre damage in stage 5.
Cornejo dazzled Hero’s fans as he finished second in stage 5. The 2026 Dakar rally-raid edition saw 115 bikers setting in at stage 1 but only 99 bikers managed to reach the finishing point. These statistics are a clear affidavit that Ross, the former crown bearer of the 2024 rally extravaganza, is not just a regular contester but a world champion.
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Argentina’s Luciano Benavides pounced into the finishing arch taking benefit of a navigation error made by Ricky Brabec, that haunted the American rider 3km before the finishing point coercing him to aggressively wrangled behind Benavides to at least sustain a runner up podium calling. The last rider to ascend the podium was the Spanish rider Tosha Schareina who has been the talk of the rally due to his spectacular form throughout the marathon only to loose the momentum in the latest stages of the race. The 2025 champion from Australia, Daniel Sanders, the Monster Energy Honda Team rider, was dethroned as his Honda bike arrived fifth, a proof that this audacious cross-country orgy is more like a book without a title.
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