Cross-country racing isn’t the same as cross-country rally, but Ruy Barbosa has taken to the latter like a fish to water. Although 2025 was his first season competing in the World Rally-Raid Championship, he impressed and quickly earned his ticket to the 2026 Dakar Rally.

Barbosa made his W2RC debut at the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge in February. Being new to the discipline, some early stumbles were expected like penalties and getting lost. Even then, he still impressed as he finished fourth in Rally2 and narrowly missed out on a class podium.

He returned to the series in May for the South African Safari Rally, where he recorded another fourth-place effort. With two top fives in as many starts, the ASO was more than happy to accept his Dakar application two months later. Barbosa added a seventh at the Rallye du Maroc last month.

Despite his impressive runs, Barbosa told Radio Bío-Bío that it’s been anything but easy. Navigation is still something he struggles with since he’s new, and 2025 was always intended to be a “learning process” even if he’s doing well.

Before rally raiding, he spent three seasons in GNCC Racing where he won two races in the XC2 Pro class and finished 11th in the 2024 class standings. He was also the 2018 Enduro World Champion in the Youth class.

“Enduro has given me a lot of structure,” he said. “In enduro, you’re used to racing at high intensity for hours, which allowed me to cope with the fatigue of rallying. However, the physical and mental suffering in rallying is on another level, and I’ve had to adapt to navigation which is a completely different challenge.”

For those reasons, his goals for his Dakar debut are mainly to afford the trip since he has a tight budget and completing the race once he’s there.

“My main objective is to reach the starting line and finish the Dakar,” he stated. “I’m not putting pressure on myself for a great result in my first Dakar, but I do want to take advantage of the opportunity to learn, observe, and gain experience.

“My goal is to be in the top 30, but the most important thing is to finish with the bike and learn as much as possible for the coming years.”

Someday, he added, he’d also love to race Dakar on four wheels. Barbosa particularly singled out Francisco López Contardo, who raced Dakar seven times on a bike before switching to SSVs and winning thrice.

“It’s something I see as a long-term goal,” he clarified. “For that, I have to keep working in rally raid with motorcycles. Hopefully, little by little, I’ll be able to make that leap to cars when the conditions allow it.”

Featured image credit: Helena Clancy / Edophoto / DPPI / ASO