Today, the third round of the FIA and FIM World Rally-Raid Championship got underway in San Juan. The Desafío Ruta 40 YPF promises to be the most substantial edition in years, with an entry list that has grown by 38 percent compared to 2024.
With 116 vehicles, 78 riders in the motorcycle and quad categories and 38 FIA crews, the thirteenth edition of the Desafío Ruta 40 YPF is seeing a major turnout. The organisation describes it as the best edition of the past ten years. FIA competitors cover a total of 2,904 kilometres, of which 1,520 kilometres are timed. For FIM riders those figures are 2,926 and 1,529 kilometres.
The route starts in San Juan, heads to San Rafael and returns to the starting city on the final day. Stage 1 today totals 511 kilometres, with 340 kilometres against the clock. The toughest stage is Stage 3 around San Rafael, with no fewer than 409 kilometres of special.
Motorcycles: Benavides already wins prologue
Luciano Benavides (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) leads the RallyGP championship and is immediately the man to watch on home soil. In Sunday’s prologue he proved just that: the Argentine won the 9-kilometre opening ahead of teammate Ricky Brabec (+1 second) and Tosha Schareina (+2 seconds). KTM remains unbeaten.
The top four in the championship, Benavides, Schareina, Sanders and Brabec, are separated by just 10 points, something that has never happened before in the history of the championship. That makes every kilometre of the coming five stages crucial. Benavides himself looks back positively on his prologue victory: “In 2024 I crashed, two weeks after Kevin had already fallen, not a pleasant period for the Benavides brothers. But it feels incredible to come back here as Dakar winner and championship leader. This crowd is the best in the world. They gave me wings.”
Reigning world champion Daniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) has never really impressed in Argentina, finishing ninth in 2024, but the Australian won in Portugal and has since been mounting a strong comeback in the championship. Adrien Van Beveren (Monster Energy Honda HRC) and Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports) also have fond memories of this region and are considered among the contenders.
Cars: Dacia chasing a fourth consecutive victory
The Dacia Sandriders have been unbeaten since the Rallye du Maroc in 2025. After the Dakar victory with Nasser Al Attiyah and the win in Portugal with Sébastien Loeb, the team now hopes to add Argentina to its trophy cabinet. Loeb has no experience with this event, but brings three strong arguments: he is regarded as a consistent frontrunner with four top-ten finishes in the last five rounds, he has raced four Dakars in South America, and he won the Rally Argentina during his WRC career no fewer than eight times, including seven in a row between 2006 and 2013.
Al Attiyah won in 2023 on his first appearance, while his former teammate Yazeed Al Rajhi took victory at the Desafío Ruta 40 in 2024. Toyota holds the record for wins in Argentina: five of the twelve editions have gone to the Japanese manufacturer. Henk Lategan and Seth Quintero represent Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC this year. Quintero sits third in the championship and is eager to seize every opportunity to claim his first W2RC victory.
Ford makes its debut at the Desafío Ruta 40 with three Raptors. The team is counting on Nani Roma, a former winner of the event in 2013, Carlos Sainz and Mitch Guthrie.
Lucas Moraes, the reigning world champion, now races for Dacia and is optimistic: “In Portugal we already won two stages. The team has started strongly. Personally, I am exactly where I was in the championship last year before I became champion.”
Rally2, Rally3 and SSV
In Rally2 the standings are equally tight. Leader Toni Mulec (BAS World KTM) holds just a five-point advantage over Martim Ventura (Monster Energy Honda HRC), who won the prologue. Honda also fields debutant Bruno Crivilin, a 29-year-old Brazilian with fourteen national enduro titles to his name who is making his international rally-raid debut. In the quad category, Argentine debutant Tobías Carrizo (Fantic by MED) has already made an impressive start with a prologue victory. Championship leader Antanas Kanopkinas (CFMoto) will need to keep a close eye on him and the local competition.
Stage 1 starts on Monday at 08:15 local time (UTC-3). The closing ceremony takes place on Friday afternoon in San Juan.
