Just when we thought Daniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) had no more surprises to spring on his rivals, the Australian pulled another rabbit out of his hat in stage 2 of the 2026 Desafío Ruta 40 YPF, between San Juan and San Rafael. Despite opening the road, the Wizard of Oz managed to put 5 minutes into his teammate Luciano Benavides in just 128 km. "Chucky" tightened his grip on the race (see Performance of the day) and extended his lead over Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy Honda HRC) to 11 minutes. Even so, he will need a bag full of tricks to open the road tomorrow, the longest special of this edition at 409 km. An opportunity for his rivals to haul themselves back into contention… or for him to pull another ace out of his sleeve.
Monster Energy Honda HRC remain undefeated in Rally2 and welcomed a new stage winner to their ranks: Preston Campbell, who broke his duck 24 hours after the Brazilian Bruno Crivilin! The American also snatched the overall lead from his teammate Martim Ventura, now 2′17″ down. Crivilin makes it an all-Honda podium at 2′35″. Murun Purevdorj (Xraids Experience) remained untouchable in Rally3. Antanas Kanopkinas (CFMoto Thunder) bounced back in the quad race, but Lucas Domínguez retained the overall lead.
Never back a lion into a corner. Nasser Al Attiyah (The Dacia Sandriders), eighth at 5′57″ yesterday, bounced back to win today's special by 21 seconds over the Toyota Gazoo Racing SA factory driver Saood Variawa. This performance boosted him to fifth place overall, 3′06″ from the new leader, João Ferreira, who wrested the top spot from Eryk Goczał (Energylandia) and his Hilux. The Portuguese driver leads an all-Toyota top 4 (see Stat of the day) also consisting of Seth Quintero at 9 seconds, Saood Variawa at 1′39″ and Henk Lategan at 2′53″. The championship leader, Sébastien Loeb (The Dacia Sandriders), is now eighth at 9′26″ (see A crushing blow).
Today's victory is Al Attiyah's eighth in the Desafío Ruta 40 YPF. He has won with three different manufacturers: Toyota (2023), Prodrive (2024) and now Dacia. The three-time world champion netted his 52nd W2RC triumph, the 20th for the Sandrider.
Rokas Baciuška scored a double whammy by beating his teammate Stéphane Peterhansel to the line and seizing the overall lead in the Stock class. Alexandre Pinto (Old Friends Rally) and Jeremías González Ferioli (Can-Am Factory) also retained the lead in Challenger and SSV, respectively, thanks to their latest victories. Both the Portuguese pro and the Argentinian ace are in a position to grab the W2RC lead in their respective classes at the end of the week.
Who will win tomorrow in San Rafael? See you at 8:00 (UTC-3) on the Race Center to follow the 575 kilometers of the third stage, with 409 kilometers against the clock.
