An Argentina race is to make a return to the World Rally-Raid Championship for 2026, organizing body FIA announced on Tuesday. The event, which was part of the 2023 and 2024 W2RC series, returns to the championship after a one year absence, as the third date on the calendar. 

The route, which will be called the “Desafío Ruta 40,” will alternate on the calendar with the South African Safari Rally, which debuted in May 2025. The date for the race when “the charismatic South American community will flock to the eagerly anticipated rally,” as the W2RC says on their official website, will be from May 24 through to the 29. 

The route, which will take drivers across several parts of the National Route 40, the longest in the country, is yet to be confirmed.

The FIA announced the official calendar from the World Motor Sport Council in Macau. The season will open with the traditional Dakar Rally held since 2020, opening on January 3, followed by a Portuguese race in March. Morocco in September and the UAE rally in November are the two final fixtures.

“The rotation we sketched out last year will come into play in 2026, as we head back to Argentina following a jaw-dropping edition of the South African Safari Rally,” said David Castera, Motorsports Director at W2RC promoter Amaury Sport Organisation. “We expect the race to return the season after that because we would like to alternate between these two fantastic events.”

FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem added it was “good to see that the championship returns to South America in 2026.”

Argentina has surged to prominence in the world of Rally-Raid. In 2024, Valentina Pertegarini made history last week as she became the first woman to win a World Rally-Raid Championship title. She won the co-driver championship — which crowns the best rally car navigator — after racing alongside her husband, Nicolás Cavigliasso.

This year, the couple won the 2025 Dakar Rally in the Challenger class aboard a Taurus T3 Max racecar. It was the couple’s first ever title together, and the second for Cavigliasso. They now lead the 2025 Challenger class championship, after securing a seventh place finish in the Abu Dhabi and second in South Africa.