Following last year’s event contested at the northern tip of Argentina along the Ruta 40 in a vertical line on the map between La Rioja and Salta, this year’s race will take place in the centre of the country on a more horizontal plane, starting and finishing in Cordoba. The prologue and first stage will take place around the city. Stage 2 will set off from there to take the race caravan to San Juan, to the west of the RN 40, which will be the theatre for a second loop stage the following day. Another point-to-point stage will be on the menu for stage 4, taking the competitors back to west of the country’s main road, which winds its way along the Andes, from San Juan and La Rioja, the start city of the previous edition. The last day will see the race return to Cordoba. Two loop stages and three point-to-point stages are on the programme for a route from the east to west and back.
A FIRST VISIT TO CORDOBA
For Cordoba, this will be a major first. Since the creation of the Desafío Ruta 40 in 2010, the bivouac has never set up camp here. What’s more, the city will also be welcoming the W2RC for the very first time.
However, being at the centre of the motorsports map is nothing new for the country’s second largest urban area after Buenos Aires.
This central Argentinean city boasts a student population that amounts to 12% of its total, one of the highest rates in the world, making it a place of tradition but also modernity. However, beyond its youth and openness to the world, thanks to its international airport and accommodation capacity, Cordoba is especially a world capital of motorsports, the passion for which has been alive for several generations. It was first thanks to the Rally of Argentina, created in 1980, that the city took its place among the capitals of motorsport when the race became one of the essential legs of the WRC from its creation in 1987.
In the more recent past, the Dakar inscribed Cordoba in the rally-raid history books by crossing the province eight times from 2009 onwards, setting up its bivouac five times and choosing it as the city to host the finish in 2018 for its 40th edition. The links between the rally-raid discipline and Cordoba will be renewed after a seven year wait for the spectators, whose enthusiasm is sure to be ignited at the first contact with the W2RC caravan, which will set up residence in the heart of the city, at the Predio Ferial.
A RETURN TO SAN JUAN AND LA RIOJA
Jubilant crowds will not just be reserved to Cordoba because in San Juan on the evening of stages 2 and 3, the spectators will also be very eager. Since 2018 and after many visits, the Desafío Ruta had not returned to the city of the sun, which shines down on it three hundred days per year. That same year witnessed the last passage of the Dakar as well. For this grand return, the bivouac will be located at the San Juan Villicum circuit, which recently played host to the paddocks of two major FIM competitions, the World Superbike and ISDE (International Six Days of Enduro).
The crowds at La Rioja, last year’s starting point, will renew acquaintance with the major names in the rally-raid discipline on the evening of stage 4, once again at the Super Domo. This is where the race was relaunched with the W2RC last year, after a five-year hiatus between 2018 and 2023.
Crowds of enthusiastic aficionados await the W2RC, which will be discovering new regions in Argentina as well as a new season. The 12th edition of the Desafío Ruta 40, following a move 3 months forward on the schedule compared to last year, will take place in the middle of winter, with the possibility of more pronounced temperature variations. Adaptation will be key for this new adventure concocted by the experienced teams set up by David Eli and his son Pablo, over 1,128 kilometres of link routes and 2,085 kilometres of specials.
David Eli, general organizer of the Desafío Ruta 40: “We are very excited about this 12th edition of the Desafío Ruta 40. It will be a race that will bring together all the Argentinean passion and rally DNA in a route that will have it all. We are sure that it will be a great race for competitors, teams and spectators as well. It’s going to be a truly unique Desafío Ruta 40, and we’re looking forward to seeing you in Argentina from 1st to 7th June!”
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