Eryk Goczal won the first stage of the Desafío Ruta 40 YPF, the third round of the World Rally-Raid Championship, and wakes up on Tuesday as the overall leader. The Pole from the Energylandia team, driving a private Toyota Hilux, set a time of 3h33m59s on the 362 kilometres of the timed special, a loop that started and finished in San Juan. Mitch Guthrie, in an official Ford Raptor, finished 50 seconds behind, and Carlos Sainz, in another Ford, 56 seconds back.

Sébastien Loeb arrived in Argentina as the championship leader with 87 points, seven ahead of his teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah. The Frenchman finished ninth on the stage, 9m37s behind Goczal, after suffering two punctures during the special. Al-Attiyah finished eighth, 5m57s back. With only five stages remaining, the deficit forces them to attack from the second day.

Photo By A.S.O

Seth Quintero took fourth place in the official Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC car, 1m37s behind, followed by Joao Ferreira at 1m49s. Henk Lategan was sixth at 3m11s, Saood Variawa seventh at 4m09s, and Lucio Álvarez closed the top ten at 10m04s in a Toyota Hilux from the SVR team.

In the lower categories, Alexandre Pinto won in Challenger in the Taurus of Old Friends Racing, Stéphane Peterhansel won in Stock in the Defender, and Jeremias Ferioli moved to the front in SSV in the official Can‑Am.

Photo By A.S.O

The second stage runs tomorrow from San Juan to San Rafael, with a total of 634 kilometres and 128 timed kilometres. Goczal will open the track in the Ultimate class, a task that usually wears down whoever undertakes it. The two Dacias need to cut more than five and nine minutes respectively if they want to stay in the title fight.

Ruta 40 Rally Raid 2026 - Stage 1

Pos	Nº	Drivers	Class	Team	Car	Time	Gap
1	#205	E. GOCZAL S. GOSPODARCZYK	Ultimate	ENERGYLANDIA RALLY TEAM	TOYOTA HILUX DKR EVO	3:33:59	—
2	#228	M. GUTHRIE K. WALCH	Ultimate	FORD RACING	FORD RAPTOR	3:34:49	+0:00:50
3	#225	C. SAINZ D. OLIVERAS	Ultimate	FORD RACING	FORD RAPTOR	3:34:55	+0:00:56
4	#203	S. QUINTERO A. SHORT	Ultimate	TOYOTA GAZOO RACING W2RC	TOYOTA HILUX GR	3:35:36	+0:01:37
5	#240	J. FERREIRA F. PALMEIRO	Ultimate	TOYOTA GAZOO RACING SA	TOYOTA HILUX IMT EVO	3:35:48	+0:01:49
6	#202	H. LATEGAN B. CUMMINGS	Ultimate	TOYOTA GAZOO RACING W2RC	TOYOTA HILUX GR	3:37:10	+0:03:11
7	#218	S. VARIAWA F. CAZALET	Ultimate	TOYOTA GAZOO RACING SA	TOYOTA HILUX IMT EVO	3:38:08	+0:04:09
8	#299	N. AL-ATTIYAH F. LURQUIN	Ultimate	THE DACIA SANDRIDERS	DACIA SANDRIDER	3:39:56	+0:05:57
9	#219	S. LOEB E. BOULANGER	Ultimate	THE DACIA SANDRIDERS	DACIA SANDRIDER	3:43:36	+0:09:37
10	#230	L. ALVAREZ B. GRAUE	Ultimate	SVR	TOYOTA HILUX IMT EVO	3:44:47	+0:10:48
11	#227	N. ROMA A. HARO	Ultimate	FORD RACING	FORD RAPTOR	3:45:32	+0:11:33
12	#301	A. PINTO B. OLIVEIRA	Challenger	OLD FRIENDS RALLY TEAM	TAURUS T3 MAX	3:47:14	+0:13:15
13	#206	M. GOCZAL M. MARTON	Ultimate	ENERGYLANDIA RALLY TEAM	TOYOTA HILUX DKR EVO	3:47:32	+0:13:33
14	#238	M. GASTALDI C. SACHS	Ultimate	SVR	TOYOTA HILUX IMT EVO	3:47:40	+0:13:41
15	#247	K. BENAVIDES L. CISTERNA	Ultimate	OVERDRIVE RACING	TOYOTA HILUX IMT EVO	3:48:34	+0:14:35
16	#223	L. MORAES D. ZENZ	Ultimate	THE DACIA SANDRIDERS	DACIA SANDRIDER	3:48:36	+0:14:37
17	#204	A. MIURA A. MONLEON	Ultimate	TOYOTA GAZOO RACING W2RC	TOYOTA HILUX GR	3:49:18	+0:15:19
18	#250	S. HALPERN E. SAGUI	Ultimate	X-RAID TEAM	X-RAID MINI JCW RALLY 3.0I	3:55:41	+0:21:42
19	#308	N. LOPEZ F. ACOSTA	Challenger	BBR MOTORSPORT	TAURUS T3 MAX	3:56:00	+0:22:01
20	#402	J. GONZALEZ FERIOLI G. RINALDI	SSV	CAN-AM FACTORY TEAM	CAN-AM MAVERICK R	3:56:46	+0:22:47
21	#307	M. WALKNER P. MORENO	Challenger	BBR MOTORSPORT	TAURUS T3 MAX	3:57:20	+0:23:21
22	#302	P. KLAASSEN A. SANZ	Challenger	KTM X-BOW POWERED BY G RALLY TEAM	GRALLYTEAM G-ECKO 4WD	4:00:14	+0:26:15
23	#210	H. GARCÉS J. LATRACH	Ultimate	OVERDRIVE RACING	TOYOTA HILUX GR	4:01:03	+0:27:04
24	#236	C. BAUMGART L. ECKEL	Ultimate	SVR	TOYOTA HILUX IMT EVO	4:01:55	+0:27:56
25	#500	S. PETERHANSEL M. METGE	Stock	DEFENDER RALLY	DEFENDER DAKAR D7X-R	4:03:07	+0:29:08
26	#502	R. BACIUSKA O. VIDAL	Stock	DEFENDER RALLY	DEFENDER DAKAR D7X-R	4:03:17	+0:29:18
27	#504	S. PRICE S. GRAY	Stock	DEFENDER RALLY	DEFENDER DAKAR D7X-R	4:03:42	+0:29:43
28	#407	M. ANDUJAR C. FRINI	SSV	7240 TEAM	CAN-AM MAVERICK R	4:04:30	+0:30:31
29	#201	Y. AL RAJHI T. GOTTSCHALK	Ultimate	OVERDRIVE RACING	TOYOTA HILUX GR	4:05:26	+0:31:27
30	#231	K. KOOLEN W. ROSEGAAR	Ultimate	RD LIMITED	FORD RAPTOR	4:06:34	+0:32:35
31	#412	J. NOGUEIRA A. COUTO	SSV	OLD FRIENDS RALLY TEAM	CAN-AM MAVERICK R	4:17:08	+0:43:09
32	#408	P. MAC DOWELL D. SPOLIDORIO	SSV	SOUTH RACING CAN-AM	CAN-AM MAVERICK R	4:21:03	+0:47:04
33	#221	M. PROKOP V. CHYTKA	Ultimate	ORLEN JIPOCAR TEAM	FORD RAPTOR	4:23:18	+0:49:19
34	#404	M. SIDABRAS E. CESOKAS	SSV	IZOTON SPORT	CAN-AM MAVERICK R	4:34:22	+1:00:23
35	#410	J. PIFERRER X. BLANCO	SSV	BUGGY MASTERS TEAM	BRP CAN-AM MAVERICK R	4:35:55	+1:01:56
36	#217	D. KROTOV K. ZHILTSOV	Ultimate	M-SPORT RALLY RAID TEAM	FORD RAPTOR	5:14:27	+1:40:28