Desafío Ruta 40 YPF 2026 treated us to five incredible days of racing and a finale with a historic outcome. Daniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) took the victory in the bikes category, while in the car category, Seth Quintero and Andrew Short (Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC) secured their first win in the World Rally Raid Championship (W2RC). As on every day of the event, the podium was surrounded by a crowd in downtown San Juan.
The return of Desafío Ruta 40 YPF 2026 to the world stage couldn’t have been better. Five stages featuring completely varied roads and terrain, the dreamlike landscapes of the Cuyo region, crowds of fans lining the roads as well as at every campsite, and a race that featured the world’s top rally raid stars. All these elements made this third round of the W2RC season a truly unique race.
The race kicked off last Sunday, May 24, with two bivouacs in the cities of San Juan and San Rafael (Mendoza) and covering a total of 2,939 kilometers, 1,522 of which were timed. Spectators from the Cuyo region and across the country played a central role this week at every stage of the race, cheering on their heroes at each bivouac.
Sanders Dominates from Start to Finish and Quintero Gets a Victory
In the bikes category, Daniel Sanders was unbeatable from the very first kilometer of the 2026 Desafío Ruta 40 YPF. The Australian took the overall lead in the first stage and had no trouble setting the pace over the next two days, as he continued to extend his lead and then focused on managing it in the face of attacks from his rivals.
Sanders’ performance—he won four out of five stages—allowed KTM to break Honda’s dominance, which had won the last eight editions, and gave the Austrian brand its third victory in this race. The podium was rounded out by Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy Honda HRC) and Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy Honda HRC), the winners of the 2023 and 2024 editions, respectively.
In Rally2, Martim Ventura (Monster Energy Honda HRC) secured a decisive victory over his teammate and rookie Bruno Crivilin (Monster Energy Honda HRC), while Toni Mulec (BAS World KTM Team) finished third.
In the Rally3 category, victory went to Mongolia’s Murum Purevdorj (Xraids Experience), ahead of Argentinian Eduardo Alan (XRaids Experience) and Walter Alfaro Araya (Pedrega Team).
In the car category, the day began with the top two drivers in the overall standings separated by just 7 seconds. The leaders, Seth Quintero and Andrew Short, got off to a strong start and managed to pull away by nearly two minutes over the first 58 kilometers, but by the 100-kilometer mark, the American had lost his entire lead and was overtaken by the Dacia Sandriders duo, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin.
The driver from Qatar appeared to be on his way to victory until he was forced to stop due to a puncture with 100 kilometers remaining in the special stage. Although he was later able to continue, he lost several minutes and even fell behind Henk Lategan and Brett Cummings (Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC), who secured a 1-2 finish for the Japanese manufacturer on this third round of the world championship.
Al-Attiyah rounded out the podium, finishing just ahead of his teammate Sébastien Loeb (The Dacia Sandriders).
In the Stock category, Stéphane Peterhansel and Michaël Metge (Defender Rally) took the win ahead of their teammates: Rokas Baciuska-Oriol Vidal and Sara Price-Saydiie Gray.
Meanwhile, Matthias Walkner and Pablo Moreno (BBR Motorsport) secured a strong victory in the Challenger class, beating Alexandre Pinto and Bernardo Olivera (Odyssey Academy By BBR), while Puck Klaassen and Argentine Augusto Sanz (KTM X-Bow Powered by G Rally Team) finished third.
In SSV, Jeremías González Ferioli and Gonzalo Rinaldi (Can Am Factory Team) secured a decisive victory over Mindaugas Sidabras and Ernestas Cesokas (Izoton Sport) and Juan Piferrer Navarro and Xavier Blanco García (Buggy Masters Team).
The Open class and Desafío Ansenuza also had their show
Gustavo Gallego and Eugenio Arrieta took the top spots in the Open UTV class, while Daniel Hernández and Laurent Lazard were the winners in the Open cars class. Meanwhile, the group of amateur drivers from the Desafío Ansenuza also added excitement to a race that will go down in history.
What’s next!
The 13th edition of the Desafío Ruta 40 YPF was an absolute success. From a record number of entrants to spectacular stages, the event left a very positive impression on competitors and teams, as well as on the race organizers at +Eventos. In this regard, Pablo Eli (Sports Director of DR40) stated from San Juan: “We are very proud of the race we put on. It was a great challenge. We had big names racing in Argentina. The drivers were very happy, and so were we. Now it’s time to start working on the next edition, which we hope will be very soon.”
Source: Desafio Ruta 40
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