For a rider starting his national rally raid, nothing beats igniting the home crowds with a win, and that is exactly what Luciano Benavides did in the FIM prologue of the 2026 Desafío Ruta 40 YPF. The Argentinian made a victorious return to San Juan despite the best efforts of Honda's Ricky Brabec (+1″) and Tosha Schareina (+2″) on the 9-kilometer route. KTM remain undefeated in prologues in 2026.
Martim Ventura, fourth after a long time in the hot seat, landed Honda their tenth Rally2 victory. Murun Purevdorj did not disappoint in Rally3, while Tobías Carrizo secured his maiden W2RC win in the quad race.
The definitive programme of the thirteenth edition has been revealed: competitors are about to sink their teeth into an adventure stretching for 2,904 km (including 1,520 km against the clock) for FIA entrants and 2,926 km (including 1,529 km against the clock) for their FIM counterparts.
38 crews have been cleared to start following the FIA scrutineering, including 31 championship entrants (21 in Ultimate, 3 in Stock, 3 in Challenger and 4 in SSV). Both the cars and the 73 FIM competitors, including 71 W2RC entrants (10 in RallyGP, 50 in Rally3, 3 in Rally3 and 8 in Quads), will tackle a 551 km loop around San Juan in stage 1 tomorrow. Join us on the Race Center here at 08:15 am (UTC-3).
FIM: BENAVIDESVICTORIOUS ON HOME SOIL
Luciano Benavides (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) is "psyched up in front of his fans", warned Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy Honda HRC) yesterday. He was not wrong. The Spaniard, who had bagged the prologue of the Desafío Ruta 40 YPF in 2024, tried to make it back-to-back wins today, but the Argentinian outsped him by two puny seconds… and runner-up Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy Honda HRC) by just one. Four months after his triumphant Dakar campaign, "Faster77" has taken the first special of the 2026 edition. Benavides romped home to victory two years after a nasty spill knocked him out of the opening stage. This will no doubt buoy his morale ahead of tomorrow, as the Argentinian's win gave him the final word in the start order selection.
Benavides, Brabec and Schareina are just 2 seconds apart. Further down the ranking, the fourth-placed rider, 10 seconds back, also notched up a win in the prologue! Martim Ventura set the fastest time in Rally2, beating his Monster Energy Honda HRC teammate Preston Campbell by 14 seconds and Hero MotoSports' fresh recruit, Michael Docherty, by 20. The other winners of the day were the Mongolian Murun Purevdorj (Xraids Experience) in Rally3 and the Argentinian Tobías Carrizo (Fantic by MED) in quads.
"That was a great comeback!", beamed Luciano Benavides at the finish. "In 2024, I crashed two weeks after Kevin had already taken a tumble, so it was not a great time to be one of the Benavides brothers. But it feels great to come back as the Dakar winner and world championship leader. The Dakar boosted my confidence. My leg injury and earlier surgery undermined my bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal, but everything has fallen into place here. These incredible crowds, the best in the world, fired me up and propelled me to victory. I'll be shadowing my direct rivals tomorrow. I think it's a good idea to stay close to them. I've got the final word, so I just need to react to their choices."
FIA: CAN DACIA OR TOYOTA MAKE IT THREE IN A ROW?
FIA scrutineering, which got under way yesterday (read more), came to a close today at Circuito San Juan Villicum. The Dacia Sandriders, which hold the lead in the manufacturers' world championship after taking the Dakar with Nasser Al Attiyah and the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal with Sébastien Loeb, are eyeing a third win in a row in Argentina —a fourth, in fact, as they remain unbeaten since the 2025 Rallye du Maroc. As the Qatari warned yesterday, the team intends to expand its trophy cabinet with the Desafío Ruta 40 YPF, which has been claimed by four manufacturers so far. The reigning world champion, Lucas Moraes, would like to follow in the victorious footsteps of his teammates, but his former outfit will do its best to thwart him. Toyota emerged victorious from the last two editions of the race, with Al Attiyah in 2023 and Yazeed Al Rajhi in 2024. Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC), who has not tasted victory since the 2025 South African Safari Rally, four rounds back, is out for revenge. His teammate Seth Quintero, third in the championship, posted the best performance in his car career in the previous round, where he was the runner-up to Loeb. The Japanese marque holds the record for most victories in Argentina, with five to its name.
Click here to view the list of FIA crews cleared to start
FIA QUOTES: "WE ARE READY TO MAKE A GOOD PUSH HERE"
Seth Quintero (Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC): "Haven't really had the luck to get that win"
"We've had quite a few podiums in Ultimate [3] at this point, and quite a few stage wins [7]. Just haven't really had the luck to get that win even in Portugal. We had a lot of punctures, unfortunately, that hindered us from the win. But to end up still getting second after all that is really good. I raced in Argentina in my rookie season [in the car category] and ended up winning [stage 3]. We hope to try and best that result!"
Lucas Moraes (The Dacia Sandriders): "We are ready to make a good push here"
"Our result at the Dakar was not unexpected. It was very new for me: new car, new team, new co-driver. We managed to win some splits, but we never got a clean run. But in Portugal, we already won two stages again [stages 2 and 5]. So I was happy with the performance there. The team started very strong. Nasser [Al Attiyah] won the Dakar and Séb' [Loeb] in Portugal. So we are leading the constructors, which is the most important thing for the team at the moment. Personally, I am exactly in the same place I was when I was world champion last year in terms of the points gap. Of course, we need some luck, but we are ready to make a good push here!"
João Ferreira (Toyota Gazoo Racing SA): "It'll be a brand-new experience for me"
"I took part in the race in 2023, but it was a different region, so I'm not sure what to expect. From what I gather, there'll be WRC-style tracks, which I have some experience with, and a bit of open desert, as in the Dakar, the Rallye du Maroc and the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. I'll be getting used to the terrain one day at a time and getting reacquainted with the car after not touching it for two months. It'll be a brand-new experience for me, because that other time I was competing in Challenger in a Yamaha [fifteenth overall]. But I feel confident. For the first time, I entered three races in a rally car since the previous round in Portugal to keep my pace sharp. Competitors such as Nasser Al Attiyah, Nani Roma, Carlos Sainz and Lucas Moraes in SSV do the same. I missed my goal in the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal, but I'm still targeting the top spots without losing sight of the championship."
Henk Lategan (Toyota Gazoo Racing W2RC): "Our position in the championship allows us to take this risk"
"It's my first time here, so it's a bit of an adventure for me. It's part of why I love this sport, we're always here for an adventure. We'll use this race for that. We'll keep pushing to get the car a bit better. We'll try some new things. Our position in the championship allows us to take this risk. Seth [Quintero] is still in the championship. We'll do what we can to help him and to assist there. I mean, there's always the outside chance, but something has to go seriously wrong for the rest of the guys. We just have to go and drive our own race and explore this new event. We'll do some testing and trying some new things along the way."
Lucio Álvarez (SVR): "I know these tracks by heart"
"This is my second championship round of the season with SVR and ‘Ronnie’ Graue. He made my debut in the discipline possible in 2012. This'll be my third Desafío Ruta 40, after 2015 and 2018. Last time, I finished second in an X-raid Mini. I think Pablo Eli has done a terrific job this year. It's going to be brilliant. I'll be racing on home turf. I know these tracks around San Rafael by heart. I reckon I might crack the top 5 because Pablo says there'll be more navigation, more sandy tracks and more dunes, with a cross-country format that plays to my strengths."
Stéphane Peterhansel (Defender Rally): "I don't think having raced here so often is an advantage"
"I don't think having raced here so often is an advantage. It's not an extra incentive. We wandered around so much, I can't really say I know the area, my memories are all over the place. Two things stand out, though: my fond memories of my victories, and the incredible atmosphere. I've always said that Argentinian motor sports fans are the best in the world."
Click here to read the quotes from yesterday from other FIA entrants
