The World Rally-Raid Championship returns to Argentina from May 24 to 29 with the Desafío Ruta 40 YPF, an event that was not held in 2025 because the calendar rotated through other venues and which now reappears with a caravan spread across the Ultimate, Challenger, SSV, and Stock categories. Sébastien Loeb (Dacia Sandrider) arrives in San Juan as the championship leader with 87 points, seven ahead of his teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah, who lost the top spot in Portugal after retiring on the third stage due to a breakdown.

Loeb has not raced the Ruta 40 before. He won the WRC Rally Argentina eight times between 2005 and 2013, but the route from San Juan to San Rafael is new to him. Al-Attiyah, on the other hand, has the most complete record in the caravan for this event, having won in 2023 with Toyota and finished second in 2024. The difference between them in the championship is seven points, and Seth Quintero (Toyota Hilux) is third with 61 points, 26 behind the leader.

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Toyota occupies half of the Ultimate class grid with 12 Hilux trucks. Quintero leads the official Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC team alongside Henk Lategan and Akira Miura, while Yazeed Al Rajhi and Hernán Garcés race with Overdrive Racing, and Lucio Álvarez together with brothers Marcos and Cristian Baumgart participate with the SVR structure. The official FIA entry list also includes Kevin Benavides and Sebastián Halpern, who are making their category debut with Overdrive Racing and X-Raid Team. Marek and Eryk Goczal complete the Japanese manufacturer's representation with Energylandia. Toyota has won five of the twelve editions of the Ruta 40.

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Ford M-Sport arrives in Argentina with no prior experience in this event and needing to complete a race after the five Raptor T1+ entered in Portugal suffered engine failures on the first stage and the team withdrew all its vehicles to investigate at the factory. Before that collective retirement, Ford had achieved second place for Nani Roma, third for Mattias Ekström, and fifth for Carlos Sainz at the Dakar in January. Roma is seventh in the championship with 45 points. Sainz, tenth with 28 points, has never participated in the Ruta 40, although he won two South American editions of the Dakar and the 2004 Rally Argentina. Mitch Guthrie raced this event in 2023 in a T3 and finished fifth overall. Denis Krotov, Martin Prokop, and Kees Koolen complete Ford's presence with customer Raptors.

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Other categories: Challenger, SSV and Stock

In the Challenger category, Alexandre Pinto made his debut in Portugal with a victory and sits fifth in the championship, behind Puck Klaassen, who leads the class with a narrow margin. Pedro Gonçalves, eleventh, and debutants Matthias Walkner and Nicolás López complete the roster. In SSV, Jeremias Ferioli is second in the world championship and races at home with a chance to reach the lead held by Joao Monteiro. The Stock class in Argentina features the three Defenders of Rokas Baciuska, who won in Portugal and leads the category, Stéphane Peterhansel, who participated in eleven South American editions of the Dakar and won four times, and Sara Price.

The third stage is the longest of the route, with 409 timed kilometers in a loop around San Rafael that could make a difference in the overall classification. The event concludes on Friday the 29th with the final special stage in San Juan and the awards ceremony at 5:00 PM. Dacia leads the manufacturers' championship with 250 points, followed by Toyota with 167 and Ford with 129. The season ends with the Rallye du Maroc in September and the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in November.

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2026 Desafío Ruta 40 YPF Itinerary

Desafío Ruta 40 2026 - Entry List Provisional (W2RC)

Nº	Driver / Codriver	Class	Team	Car
#201	Y. Al Rajhi T. Gottschalk	Ultimate T1+	Overdrive Racing	Toyota Hilux GR
#202	H. Lategan B. Cummings	Ultimate T1+	Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC	Toyota Hilux GR
#223	L. Moraes D. Zenz	Ultimate T1+	The Dacia Sandrider	Dacia Sandrider
#225	C. Sainz D. Oliveras	Ultimate T1+	Ford Racing	Ford Raptor
#299	N. Al-Attiyah F. Lurquin	Ultimate T1+	The Dacia Sandrider	Dacia Sandrider
#203	S. Quintero A. Short	Ultimate T1+	Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC	Toyota Hilux GR
#205	E. Goczal S. Gospodarczyk	Ultimate T1+	Energylandia Rally Team	Toyota Hilux DKR Evo
#217	D. Krotov K. Zhiltsov	Ultimate T1+	M-Sport Rally Raid Team	Ford Raptor
#218	S. Variawa F. Cazalet	Ultimate T1+	Toyota Gazoo Racing SA	Toyota Hilux IMV Evo
#219	S. Loeb E. Boulanger	Ultimate T1+	The Dacia Sandrider	Dacia Sandrider
#221	M. Prokop V. Chytka	Ultimate T1+	Orlen Jipocar Team	Ford Raptor
#227	N. Roma A. Hardes	Ultimate T1+	Ford Racing	Ford Raptor
#228	M. Guthrie K. Walch	Ultimate T1+	Ford Racing	Ford Raptor
#204	A. Miura A. Monleon	Ultimate T1+	Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC	Toyota Hilux GR
#206	M. Goczal M. Marton	Ultimate T1+	Energylandia Rally Team	Toyota Hilux DKR Evo
#210	H. Garces J. Latrach	Ultimate T1+	Overdrive Racing	Toyota Hilux GR
#222	M. Baumgart K. Cincea	Ultimate T1+	SVR	Toyota Hilux IMV Evo
#230	L. Alvarez B. Graue	Ultimate T1+	SVR	Toyota Hilux IMV Evo
#231	K. Koolen W. Rosegaar	Ultimate T1+	RD Limited	Ford Raptor
#236	C. Baumgart L. Eckel	Ultimate T1+	SVR	Toyota Hilux IMV Evo
#238	M. Gastaldi C. Sachs	Ultimate T1+	SVR	Toyota Hilux IMV Evo
#240	J. Ferreira F. Palmeiro	Ultimate T1+	Toyota Gazoo Racing SA	Toyota Hilux IMV Evo
#247	K. Benavides L. Sisterna	Ultimate T1+	Overdrive Racing	Toyota Hilux GR
#250	S. Halpern E. Pulenta	Ultimate T1+	X-Raid Team	X-Raid Mini JCW Rally 3.0i
#301	A. Pinto B. Oliveira	Challenger T3	Old Friends Rally Team	Taurus T3 Max
#302	P. Klaassen A. Sanz	Challenger T3	KTM X-Bow Powered by G Rally Team	G Rally Team G-Ekco
#306	P. Goncalves S. Delaunay	Challenger T3	BBR Motorsport	Taurus T3 Max
#307	M. Walkner P. Moreno	Challenger T3	BBR Motorsport	Taurus T3 Max
#308	N. Lopez F. Acosta	Challenger T3	BBR Motorsport	Taurus T3 Max
#402	J. Gonzalez Ferioli G. Rinaldi	SSV	Can-Am Factory Team	BBR Can Am Maverick R
#404	M. Sidabras E. Cesokas	SSV	Izotono Sportas	BBR Can Am Maverick R
#407	M. Andujar C. Frini	SSV	7240 Team	BBR Can Am Maverick R
#408	P. Mac Dowell D. Spolidorio	SSV	South Racing Can-Am	BBR Can Am Maverick R
#410	J. Piferrer Navarro X. Blanco Garcia	SSV	Buggy Masters Team	BBR Can Am Maverick R
#412	J. Nogueira A. Couto	SSV	Old Friends Rally Team	BBR Can Am Maverick R
#500	S. Peterhansel M. Metge	Stock	Defender Rally	Defender Dakar D7X-R
#502	R. Baciuska O. Vidal Montijano	Stock	Defender Rally	Defender Dakar D7X-R
#504	S. Price S. Gray	Stock	Defender Rally	Defender Dakar D7X-R