Monster Energy Honda HRC kicked off its 2026 Desafío Ruta 40 campaign with a solid showing in Sunday’s 9km prologue around San Juan, Argentina, as riders got their first taste of the demanding terrain ahead.
Cold conditions greeted competitors early in the day, but sunshine broke through by the time the Rally GP field rolled onto the start line in San Juan, hosting the event opener for the second time.
The short but technical test began in a dry riverbed before transitioning onto a narrow gravel route that challenged riders with tricky navigation and limited room for error.
Defending Desafío Ruta 40 winner Ricky Brabec delivered a strong opening performance, finishing just one second behind fastest rider Luciano Benavides. Teammate Tosha Schareina also impressed, enjoying the support of the passionate Argentine fans as he crossed the line only one second behind Brabec aboard his Honda CRF450 RALLY.
Skyler Howes lost valuable time after making a navigation mistake in the opening kilometre through the river section and briefly taking the wrong track. Despite the setback, the American recovered well over the remainder of the prologue to secure fifth place, 17 seconds off the pace – a result he described as one of his strongest prologue performances.
Adrien Van Beveren encountered similar difficulties after also choosing the wrong line early on. The Frenchman pushed hard through the faster closing section but ultimately finished seventh, 23 seconds behind the leading time.
The prologue results will determine the starting order for stage one, with the top ten riders earning the opportunity to choose their starting positions. That decision could prove crucial, as competitors weigh the advantages of opening the stage against the opportunity to follow rivals’ tracks through the navigation-heavy terrain.
Stage one will take riders through the dramatic gorges of San Juan and across the region’s expansive salt flats, featuring a total distance of 511km, including 340km against the clock.
Ruben Faria
The prologue is done. It was short, intense and very fast. The first four kilometres were inside the riverbed, with two or three tricky notes in the roadbook that caught a few riders out. Some did well, while others lost a bit of time, but overall it was a strong prologue for us.
Ricky finished second, just one second behind Luciano Benavides. Luciano is Argentinian, so he knows this terrain very well and after winning this year’s Dakar, everyone knows how strong he is. It was a really solid performance from Ricky.
Tosha also had a great run, finishing third, two seconds behind Luciano and just one behind Ricky. He had good pace, made no mistakes and the bike worked perfectly. I think both of them are in a good position with a strong strategy for tomorrow.
Skyler and Adrien finished fifth and seventh. Both made small mistakes in the river section, like several other riders, so it wasn’t the ideal prologue for them. But it’s only the opening day and there’s still a long race ahead with plenty of opportunities to make up time.
Ricky Brabec 9
Prologue: 2nd
The prologue was good, it’s nice to shake the monkey off the back and start the rally. It was short and sweet with fast sand wash at the beginning. The first five kilometres was just wide open with some square edges along the way. The last four and half kilometres was big, fast, wide open piste with some nice sweeping corners and a couple of dangers. But overall, it was good, the whole team is looking good, the mechanics are working hard. We have a big week ahead of us so let’s keep going.
Skyler Howes 10
Prologue: 5th
Despite the result, it was actually one of my better prologues. At the first kilometre there was a split in the river, it just had all these little fingers and I went up the wrong finger and it got closed off. I ended up having to traverse back which lost me some seconds there. To be honest I rode good, the bike is feeling great and I’m really happy with that and happy with the work the team has put in. I rode really well the rest of the prologue and when I crossed the finish line I still had a pretty decent result despite the mistake. All in all, we’ll still be in a decent position to start stage one and there’s a long week to go. You’ll hear that a lot from us in this rally, but there’s a lot of kilometres left to go.
Adrien Van Beveren 42
Prologue: 7th
It didn’t go well for me, two notes confused me in the road book. I went really far right on the riverbed and I’m sure I did a bunch of a hundred metres more. This is my mistake. I tried to be fast and I felt really good on the bike. The bike is going really good, so let’s see for tomorrow. I’m a bit frustrated for this mistake, it can happen. You know when you try, sometimes you do good, sometime not.
Tosha Schareina 68
Prologue: 3rd
It was so good to race again and see all the crowd on the piste cheering us on. The first part was completely in the river, the second part like WRC-style piste, it was a super fast prologue. I think we did 9 km in just five minutes so it was super fast and the feeling on the bike was good too. We’re now ready for tomorrow.
Source: Monster Energy Honda HRC
Disclaimer:
As a service to the sport we all love and follow, Rally-Raid Network posts numerous media releases from a wide variety of sources on our website. Due to the large number, and some times short time available, it is nearly impossible to review each public release. These articles are written by reporters or press officers who work for various organizers, teams, drivers, riders, and other parties, and they do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Rally-Raid Network.
