Last updated on 26. October 2026
Series: Fenix Rally – The doorway to Sahara
Jeremy Knuiman won the second stage of the Fenix Rally in Tunisia in the Enduro class on Monday, 26 October 2026. The Dutchman on a KTM EXC 450 (Team Knuiman) finished in 6 hours, 15 minutes and 43.5 seconds. Justin Gerlach (JG Racing, KTM) was second, 2 minutes and 8 seconds behind. This is according to the organiser’s provisional, unofficial partial results for Leg 2 from the evening of 26 October. There is a big gap behind the two: Daan Veenendaal (De Baar Rally Team, GasGas 500) lost 24 minutes and 39 seconds to the stage winner as third.
The rally’s first real dunes
A press report from the Belgian Feryn Rally Raid Team, published by Autosportwereld, describes the stage as a test in the style of a classic Dakar stage. On Monday morning the participants entered the dunes for the first time, followed by demanding sections with camel grass and fast tracks towards the end of the day. The special stage was interrupted by a neutralisation, that is, a pause whose duration does not count towards riding time. The organiser has so far not publicly released the exact length of the special stage and the liaison sections.
Gerlach: stuck ten times, technology fails
According to the start list, Gerlach started the stage at 8:00 am as the first of the motorcycle field, with Knuiman two minutes later as third. The German describes a hard day in a voice message from the evening. “A brutal day, honestly,” he says. The first roughly 50 kilometres went well, with steady pace and clean navigation, although the remote control of his roadbook had already failed there. After that he had to advance it by hand at the roadbook holder.
The middle section went through the dunes, which he describes as small-scale and hard to ride. “I think I got the bike stuck ten times, ten times I dug the bike out. It was really bad,” says Gerlach. In the last section, by his account, the navigation tablet also kept failing, with a black display and restarts. “So it could no longer be relied on.”
That is where Knuiman caught him. In his own words, Gerlach decided to stay with the Dutchman and give everything until the finish rather than let him go. That paid off. His summary: “The two of us will decide it up front.” In the evening, according to Gerlach, the bike needed only “little things, service, oil change, air filter”.
Top 5 of the Enduro class on Leg 2
Provisional, unofficial stage results (partial results from the organiser dated 26 October 2026). Time and gap to the stage winner in the format h:min:sec.
- Jeremy Knuiman (No. 21, NLD, KTM EXC 450): 6:15:43.50
- Justin Gerlach (No. 11, DEU, KTM FR 450 Rally): 6:17:51.44, gap +0:02:08
- Daan Veenendaal (No. 14, NLD, GasGas 500): 6:40:22.42, gap +0:24:39
- Gaspard Delsart (No. 19, FRA, KTM 500 EXC-F): 6:48:42.15, gap +0:32:59
- Abdelkader Mebarki (No. 32, DZA, KTM): 7:52:29.23, gap +1:36:46
The list shows 2 minutes of penalty time each for Veenendaal and Delsart, and 4 minutes for Mebarki. The list does not make clear whether these penalties are already included in the times given. All 16 Enduro riders who started are listed in the daily results.
Overall standings: Gerlach sees himself still ahead
No official overall classification after Leg 2 was available at the editorial deadline on the evening of 26 October. By Gerlach’s own account, he still leads the Enduro class. Before the stage, his lead over Knuiman was around six minutes. According to the stage results, Knuiman made up 2 minutes and 8 seconds on Leg 2; Gerlach himself spoke of just under 2 minutes and 15 seconds. On paper he would therefore still have a lead of just under four minutes, but confirmation by the official overall classification is pending. After the prologue, Knuiman had led the Enduro class.
Tough day for Florian Willer
The second German motorcycle starter, Florian Willer (No. 9, KTM 450 EXC, own team), started as seventh at 8:06 am according to the start list. In the stage results he is listed in 16th place and thus last in the Enduro class, with 10 hours, 47 minutes and 40 seconds and a gap of 4 hours, 31 minutes and 57 seconds. The list notes MAXTIME for him, meaning scoring with a maximum time, plus OVERSPEED (speeding), the entry WPM(6) and 27 minutes and 40 seconds of penalty time. The list gives no reasons for the time loss, and no statement from Willer was available.
Austrian Georg Reinprecht (No. 24, Beta RR 390) fared similarly. He is listed in 15th place, 4 hours, 17 minutes and 47 seconds behind Knuiman, also with the entries MAXTIME and OVERSPEED, plus WPM(1) and 13 minutes and 30 seconds of penalty time.
Sources and photo credits
- Fenix Rally 2026 (RBI Sport): provisional, unofficial partial results for Leg 2 dated 26.10.2026 and start list for Leg 2 dated 25.10.2026, held by the editorial team as PDFs
- Justin Gerlach: voice message from the evening of 26.10.2026, held by the editorial team with his consent
- Autosportwereld: Fenix Rally: een bewogen dag voor Pascal Feryn en Koen Wauters (26.10.2026, press report of the Feryn Rally Raid Team)
- Road2Rally: Fenix Rally event page
- Fenix Rally: official website
- Photo 1: motorcycle in the dunes, archive photo of a previous Fenix Rally; rights holder Fenix Rally / RBI Sport, photographer not named; source: fenix-rally.com; date of photo unknown
- Photo 2: motorcyclist with number 6 in the dunes, archive photo of the 2021 Fenix Rally; rights holder RBI Sport, photographer not named; source: rbi-sport.com