Diego Demelchori wants to race motorcycles again. The rally rider from the Argentine province of Catamarca has announced his return after a lengthy break due to injuries, according to a report by the public broadcaster Catamarca Radio y Televisión on 23 October 2026. The report names the Desafío Ruta 40, races referred to as “Saar” and other competitions as his targets.
The report gives no specific dates, team or motorcycle. Whether Demelchori has already entered any particular event therefore remains open. It is also unclear what “Saar” refers to: neither Catamarca Radio y Televisión nor El Monterizo (21 October 2026) and Que Pasa Noticias (22 October 2026) explain the term further. Both outlets report the announcement with almost identical content; the Que Pasa Noticias text is largely word for word the same as the broadcaster’s report.
Desafío Ruta 40 as a possible target
The Desafío Ruta 40 is the Argentine cross-country rally that counted in 2026 as the third round of the W2RC World Rally-Raid Championship. According to El Esquiu, the 2026 edition started on Sunday 24 May, with San Juan and San Rafael (Mendoza) as stage locations. The total distance was 2,939 kilometres, of which 1,522 kilometres were timed special stages. Daniel Sanders (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) won the motorcycle category. Alongside the world championship classes there were Open classes and, with the Desafío Ansenuza, a category for amateurs. The announcement does not say in which class or at which edition Demelchori intends to compete.
Five Dakar starts on a motorcycle
According to Catamarca Radio y Televisión, Demelchori is the first and so far only motorcyclist from Catamarca to have started the Dakar Rally five times. The report does not name the individual years. The broadcaster highlights the 2013 Dakar, which ran through Peru, Argentina and Chile, as the high point of his career. He is said to have finished 19th on stage eight and thus been the best Argentine of the day. In the overall motorcycle classification he finished 45th, which the broadcaster describes as the third-best Argentine.
Contemporary reports add to the picture: the local newspaper El Esquiu wrote on 4 January 2013 that Demelchori was contesting his second Dakar on a Kawasaki for Team RPM. The 2013 Dakar was therefore not his first participation; whether and when he started again afterwards is not documented in detail by the current reports.
Working as an FIM instructor during the break
According to the broadcaster’s report, Demelchori did not stay entirely away from motorsport during his recovery either. He works as an instructor for the world motorcycling federation FIM in training, and for years has organised events, workshops and training courses in Catamarca to promote motorcycle sport in the province. The reports available do not say which injuries forced him to take a break or when he last competed in a race.
Sources and image credits
- Catamarca Radio y Televisión: El piloto Diego Demelchori anunció su vuelta a la actividad (23 October 2026)
- El Monterizo: Dejó el Dakar por las lesiones y ahora reveló qué pruebas lo esperan (21 October 2026)
- Que Pasa Noticias: Rally Dakar: Vuelve Diego Demelchori (22 October 2026)
- El Esquiu: Hoy arranca la ilusión de D´Agostini y Demelchori (4 January 2013)
- El Esquiu: Desafío Ruta 40 YPF: Una carrera inolvidable (5 June 2026)
- Photo 1: rally rider on a Kawasaki (number 24) on a sand dune; photographer not named; original source: Catamarca Radio y Televisión, published on 23 October 2026; date of photo unknown; no licence information given in the source.
- Photo 2: rider with number 164 at a rally ceremony (archive photo); photographer not named; original source: Que Pasa Noticias, published on 22 October 2026; date of photo unknown; no licence information given in the source.