The Desafío Ruta 40 returns to the World Rally-Raid Championship calendar for 2026, with the Monster Energy Honda HRC riders aiming to continue their strong run of success in Argentina.

Featuring a prologue and five demanding stages, the rally will begin and conclude in the Cuyo region around the city of San Juan. Across a 2,993 km route, competitors will tackle a diverse mix of terrain – from vast salt flats and sweeping sandscapes to rugged mountain passes. While the scenery promises to be spectacular, the conditions are equally capable of creating surprises and dramatically influencing the overall standings.

As the defending Desafío Ruta 40 champion and runner-up in 2023, Ricky Brabec arrives determined to add another trophy to his collection. Fresh from re-signing with Monster Energy Honda HRC, this year’s Dakar Rally runner-up will draw on nearly a decade of Dakar experience in Argentina with the factory Honda team, as he targets the first victory of his 2026 campaign.

Adrien Van Beveren also returns to Argentina after renewing his contract with the team. The charismatic Frenchman has long enjoyed racing in Argentina, having previously competed in both the Dakar Rally and the Enduro del Verano, while also securing a podium finish at the 2023 Desafío Ruta 40. After claiming third place at the previous round in Portugal, he’ll be eager to begin this six-day rally on the attack.

Tosha Schareina made an unforgettable Desafío Ruta 40 debut in 2023 by dominating the event to claim victory. One year later, riding as part of the factory Honda squad, he pushed Brabec all the way to the finish in a dramatic battle, where he had to settle for the runner-up spot by just 15 seconds. With only four points separating him from the top of the World Rally-Raid Championship standings, he’ll arrive highly motivated to reclaim the top step of the podium once again.

Skyler Howes heads to Argentina for only his second appearance at the rally. In 2024, he narrowly missed out on a podium finish with fourth place, but the American is looking forward to racing his Honda CRF450 RALLY on terrain reminiscent of his home state of Utah.

With administrative and scrutineering checks now completed, the team’s attention turns to the opening prologue. The short 9,6 km loop around San Juan will still demand total concentration, as the results will determine the riders’ starting positions for stage one.

Ruben Faria - General Manager: The Desafío Ruta 40 is a very demanding race, featuring many stages previously used in the Dakar Rally. The organisers have announced a mix of stones, sand, dunes and WRC-style tracks, making it an especially challenging event for the riders. We are well prepared for the race - the bikes are ready and the team is fully set for the start. We have Tosha, who won this race in 2023, making him a strong contender on this type of terrain, as well as Ricky, who claimed victory in 2024. We are confident we can win this race. In the championship standings, Tosha is currently second, just five points behind the leader. Ricky sits fourth, Adrien fifth and Skyler sixth. Let’s see if, after this race, we can move further ahead and if possible, see Tosha take the top spot in the standings.

Ricky Brabec: As we know it's been a difficult year mentally after that Dakar. It’s the one we all will remember forever, so it's been a bit of a slow start to the year and there’s been many mixed emotions and what I was gonna do with myself after that. After many thoughts, some time to reflect and look back at it and think about some options, I have re-signed with the team to keep pushing for more victories, big and small. Lately, it's been difficult to train but we have been making it happen and just a week ago we spent four days in the saddle to get some preparation under our belt for this. I'm excited to be back as we’ve had some good results here in the past and I’m hoping we can ride well enough to go home happy after this year’s Desafío Ruta 40. Home life has been good but busy as well, we have four rescue donkeys now and trying to build a dream, as well as live the dream.

Skyler Howes: This is my second time at this event, my first time was two years ago and I’m looking forward to seeing a little bit of a different route. Two years ago was mostly WRC-style, slippery gravel roads through the mountains and this time it will be more in the desert. The desert in San Juan looks very similar to South West USA, where I’m from, so it’s really fun to ride through. We’ve been getting a lot of races that have slippery roads, like South Africa or Portugal, so I’m looking forward to a race that’s more in the desert, proper rally style. The route looks like it’ll have more sand and be tricky. We have some really long stages, one day is 455km long, which is a proper Dakar style day, which is going to be great. I’ve been doing some training back home and focusing on making sure I’m in top shape. Argentina is a great place because of the fans, they’re super dedicated and passionate, they wake up at three o’clock in the morning to get out on the course so they can spectate - it’s really nice to see.

Adrien Van Beveren: I’m really happy to be back in Argentina, I love this country, I love the spirit around here, the culture, the people. I’ve been racing here many years, before even racing Dakar I was racing the Enduro Del Verano and I made a lot of friends and connections with this country. I learnt to speak Spanish in Argentina and now it’s almost my first language. I really enjoy being here and to be back with the team, we did well in Portugal and it was really good to be back on the podium after a difficult Dakar. I can’t wait to continue in this spirit, developing the bike with the team and putting it all together to be on top of the classification and to enjoy this country and this terrain, where we used to race Dakar in the past. There is a lot of spirit around, a lot of fans, you can really feel it’s a land of motorsport here in Argentina. I can’t wait for the rally and also to be continuing with Honda.

Tosha Schareina: This race is always special, running in Argentina in front of such a huge crowd is incredible. I feel right at home and really loved by everyone - they’re so passionate about this sport. I managed to win on my first attempt at the Desafío Ruta 40 and then came second as well. This year’s race covers many kilometres across different types of terrain; it’s going to be a really well-rounded and exciting race. I can’t wait!