WIND
IN THE
P46
Sanders Smokes the Field in Argentina
D
aniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM
Factory Racing) strengthened
his bid for the 2026 FIM World Ral
-
ly-Raid Championship by claiming
overall victory at the Desafio Ruta
40 in Argentina after five days of
competition across Argentina's
rugged western terrain.
The Australian entered the
event seeking his first Ruta 40 tri
-
umph and delivered a command-
ing performance, winning four of
the five stages and controlling the
rally from the opening day. Sand-
ers finished with a winning margin
of 12 minutes, nine seconds
over Tosha Schareina (Monster
Energy Honda HRC), while Ricky
Brabec (Monster Energy Honda
HRC) rounded out the podium, six
minutes behind in third.
The rally covered more than
1616 miles, including nearly 1056
miles of timed special stages
through Argentina's deserts,
rocky mountain tracks, and high-
altitude terrain. Sanders imme
-
diately established himself as
the rider to beat with a victory on
Stage One and never relinquished
control of the overall standings.
Honda mounted a strong chal-
lenge in the latter stages of the
event. Schareina ended KTM's
unbeaten run by winning Stage
Four, leading a Honda sweep
of the podium ahead of Brabec
and Skyler Howes. However, the
Spaniard was unable to signifi
-
cantly reduce Sanders' overall
advantage before the final day.
Argentina's Luciano Benavides
(Red Bull KTM Factory Racing)
finished fourth on home soil
after staying in podium conten
-
tion throughout the week, while
American Skyler Howes (Mon-
ster Energy Honda HRC) com-
pleted the top five.
With his second consecutive
World Rally-Raid victory follow
-
ing his success in Portugal,
Sanders leaves Argentina as
the new championship leader
with 67 points, three ahead of
Schareina, heading into the
next round, the Rallye du Maroc,
scheduled for September 28-
October 3, 2026.
CN
OVERALL (Top 10)
1. Daniel Sanders (KTM) 15:58:04
2. Tosha Schareina (Hon) +12:09
3. Ricky Brabec (Hon) +18:04
4. Luciano Benavides (KTM) +22:38
5. Skyler Howes (Hon) +25:34
6. Adrien Van Beveren (Hon) +35:48
7. Edgar Canet (KTM) +43:31
8. Martim Ventura (Hon) +55:40
9. Ross Branch (Her) +55:58
10. Bruno Crivilin (Hon) +1:04:15
Daniel Sanders (center) took the Desafio Ruta 40 rally win,
moving him into the World Rally-Raid points lead from
Tosha Schareina (left), who took second in Argentina.
America's Ricky Brabec (right) was third.
