Desafío Ruta 40 2026 Entry List Confirmed: 24 Ultimate Cars
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Updated: 2 hours ago
Loeb vs Al-Attiyah, Benavides on home soil — and the title fights inside 10 points
Eight days before the start in San Juan, the ASO has confirmed the provisional entry list for the Desafío Ruta 40 YPF 2026 — and three numbers in it tell the story of where the W2RC season stands.
38% bigger field than 2024. 24 Ultimate cars (vs. 9 in 2024). Top four bikes separated by just 10 points — the tightest championship gap in W2RC history.
If you have already read our full preview of the Desafío Ruta 40 2026 — route, stages, terrain, why it matters — this update covers what is genuinely new since publication: who is racing, what the storylines are, and what the entry list signals for the rest of the 2026 season.
The headline numbers
Metric | 2024 Edition | 2026 Edition | Change |
Total FIA/FIM vehicles | ~84 | 116 | +38% |
Ultimate cars (T1+) | 9 | 24 | +167% |
Bike/quad riders | ~60 | 78 | +30% |
FIA crews | ~26 | 38 | +46% |
Distance | 2,993 km / 1,727 km SS |
ASO is calling this "the best edition of the past ten years." The numbers back it up: this is no longer a regional W2RC stop. It is a fully-stacked round.
The car battle: Loeb leads, but Argentina hosts ghosts
Sébastien Loeb (Dacia) currently leads the FIA championship by 7 points over his Dacia teammate Nasser Al-Attiyah. That is the surface story. Underneath, the Desafío Ruta 40 is one of the most unusual events in Loeb's calendar — because the man with 9 WRC titles has never raced it, while having won the WRC Rally Argentina **eight times** between 2005 and 2013.
Argentina is also where Al-Attiyah has built recent Ruta 40 mastery — he won the 2023 edition outright and finished ahead of Yazeed Al-Rajhi in 2024. Both Qatari and Saudi drivers now wear Dacia-team and Overdrive-Toyota colours respectively. Watch for an intra-team Dacia dynamic between Loeb, Al-Attiyah and reigning world champion Lucas Moraes.
Ford Racing's Argentina debut. Three factory Ford Raptors — Carlos Sainz, Nani Roma and Mitch Guthrie — line up for the first time in this event. After Ford's collective withdrawal from the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal on day one, the pressure to convert their Dakar 2026 form (three Raptors in the top five) into a 2026 W2RC result is now visible. Roma is the team's strongest performer here — he won the Desafío Ruta 40 in 2013.
Land Rover Defender debut in Stock. Three factory Defenders line up, headlined by Stock championship leader Rokas Baciuska. Stéphane Peterhansel (who knows Argentina from 11 South American Dakar editions and four wins between 2012–17) joins the line-up, alongside Sara Price as a true rookie.
Toyota brings 12 Hilux entries — 50% of the Ultimate field. Three-time reigning world constructors' champion, last two Ruta 40 wins, comfortable on every surface here.
The bike battle: 10 points between four riders
This is what makes the 2026 Desafío Ruta 40 historic: the top four in the RallyGP championship are separated by just 10 points. That has never happened before.
The four:
Luciano Benavides (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) — championship leader, home Argentinian, won the W2RC classification of his home event in 2023
Tosha Schareina (Monster Energy Honda HRC) — 2nd, fresh off podium runs at Dakar (3rd) and Portugal (2nd), Ruta 40 overall winner 2023
Daniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) — reigning world champion, Portugal winner, but a historic weak spot in Argentina (9th in 2024)
Ricky Brabec (Monster Energy Honda HRC) — defending Desafío Ruta 40 champion, Dakar 2024 winner, every reason to push
Watch: Adrien Van Beveren (Honda HRC) has finished 5th then 3rd in Argentina; Ross Branch (Hero MotoSports) is comfortable here with two top-five finishes; José Ignacio Cornejo (Hero MotoSports) races his home territory.
The rookies and surprise entries to watch
Two names worth noting beyond the championship contenders:
Bruno Crivilin — 29-year-old Brazilian phenom debuting with Monster Energy Honda HRC in Rally2. Currently leads the Brazilian rally championship, has 14 national enduro titles plus a junior world championship podium. HRC introducing him on his home continent.
Matthias Walkner — the 2018 Dakar moto winner makes a Challenger (T3.1) entry with BBR Motorsport. A factory motorcycle world champion driving a four-wheel buggy in the W2RC is the kind of crossover story that defines this discipline.
Plus: Kevin Benavides entered in the Ultimate class for Overdrive Racing — the elder Benavides brother, 2021 and 2023 Dakar moto winner, now in cars. Brother-vs-brother across categories is a story the Ruta 40 has never had before.
The schedule of Desafío Ruta 40 2026
Friday 22 May — bivouac opens at San Juan Villicum circuit
Saturday 23 May — administrative checks and scrutineering
Sunday 24 May — FIM prologue (9 km), FIA shakedown, start ceremony
Monday 25 May — Stage 1: San Juan → San Juan (511 km total / 340 km SS)
Tuesday 26 May — Stage 2: San Juan → San Rafael (721 / 334)
Wednesday 27 May — Stage 3: San Rafael → San Rafael (575 / 409 — longest selective section)
Thursday 28 May — Stage 4: San Rafael → San Juan (634 / 324)
Friday 29 May — Stage 5: San Juan → San Juan (552 / 320), podium
Our take about the Desafío Ruta 40 2026
A 38% bigger entry list eight months out from the Dakar 2027 is not a coincidence. The factory teams want every kilometre of competitive practice they can get on the new generation of Ultimate cars. Ford specifically needs to convert form into points. Dacia needs to settle the Loeb/Al-Attiyah internal dynamic. Honda HRC wants Schareina to translate his Dakar pace into a championship lead.
For privateers thinking about Dakar 2027, the Desafío Ruta 40 is also the clearest read in the calendar of who is in form and which platforms are working. We will be watching closely — and so should you.
Sources: ASO Desafío Ruta 40 YPF 2026 press release (May 2026); ASO FIA + FIM provisional entry lists for the Desafío Ruta 40 YPF 2026.
About the Author:
Sven Syfrig is the Team Principal of TimeOut Racing, an international off-road motorsport team based in Switzerland, competing in events like the Dakar Classic. As an active rally driver and YouTube content creator, he shares hands-on insights from the cockpit, the workshop, and the world of amateur rally racing
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