The third annual running of the Dakar’s eMoto class is officially in the bag, and the results are in: After 13 stages, 1,074 kilometers, and one well-deserved day of rest, Spainard Fran Gómez Pallas stood at the top of the 2026 Dakar Mission 1000 podium alongside his Arctic Leopard Galicia Team EXE880 Rally.
Pallas finished the final stage of the race with a grand total of 231 points, marking an impressive 22-point lead ahead of his closest competitor. Second place went to the Segway factory team under Argentinian rider Benajamin Pascual with 209 points, while Esther Merino rounded out the podium for Arctic Leopard Galicia with 208 points.
“Warm congratulations to the Arctic Leopard Team on their brilliant achievements in the 2026 Dakar Rally Electric Motorcycle Category!” said Arctic Leopard’s founder, Jack Cai. “We claimed the champion, first runner-up, and second runner-up awards in our 2024 debut. Returning to the race in 2026, we lived up to expectations and secured the champion and second runner-up titles.”
The win is particularly significant for Pallas: While Arctic Leopard may have taken the championship back in 2024, Pallas’ own Dakar run that year ended in tragedy. After completing all but the final two stages on an electric prototype he’d built himself, Pallas’ frame split during a high-speed section, causing a gnarly crash and several broken bones.
This year’s field of competitors consisted of six total bikes: Three factory Segway riders and three members of Arctic Leopard Galicia. Unfortunately, neither rally-ready machine is available to the general public.
The Segway machine, for instance, is a bespoke-built model from the Chinese manufacturer dubbed the “X1000.” It’s an odd bird, to say the least. The X1000’s 50kW motor is powered by a sizeable liquid-cooled 14.5 kWh battery, which brings its total weight up to a reported 539 lbs. The X1000 also stands out for its twin-shock rear end, a seemingly necessary design to keep the wheelbase at a reasonable length.
As for the Arctic Leopard, as the name suggests, the EXE880 Rally is actually based on a production model, the EXE 880 Enduro, also known as the “Cheetah.” Arctic Leopard takes a lighter approach here, essentially adding a long-range battery and a rally tower/fairing to their production bike, allowing them to keep the total weight of the machine to a reported 309 pounds.
What Is Dakar Mission 1000?
The 2026 Dakar Mission 1000 is part of the “Dakar Future” program, a philanthropic endeavor that seeks to improve the lives and conditions of the people in the regions where the rally is held. In the past, Dakar Future has taken on projects like building wells in remote African villages and supporting disabled children’s centers in the Middle East.
Dakar first introduced its Mission 1000 program back in 2024 as a testbed for low-emissions prototypes to compete in a separate but parallel event alongside the main rally. Dakar as a whole has a stated mission to have all participants piloting low-emissions prototypes by the year 2030, so it stands to reason that the Mission 1000 class will only grow in the coming years.
Unfortunately, the competition has yet to draw any significant attention from major teams or manufacturers. The 2026 running, for instance, only drew a field of seven total competitors, and six of them were eMotos. The odd man out was a 1000-horsepower camion truck powered by hydrogen.
Want to learn how Dakar’s Mission 1000 rally works? Check out our in-depth explainer here.
