The 59th edition of the Baja 1000, the longest nonstop off-road race in the world, will start and finish in Los Cabos for the first time in the event’s nearly six-decade history. SCORE International confirmed the race will run November 9 through 15, 2026, with the entire route contained within Baja California Sur. The agreement, reached between SCORE and both the state government and the Los Cabos municipality, places the cape region at the center of international motorsport this fall.
The Baja 1000 Has Never Started or Finished in Los Cabos
Since its founding in 1967, the Baja 1000 has been synonymous with the northern half of the peninsula. Ensenada has served as the traditional start or finish city for most of the race’s history. The original 1967 race ran from Tijuana to La Paz, but the event settled into a pattern centered on Ensenada and, occasionally, La Paz as a finish point for point-to-point editions.
Los Cabos hosted a SCORE event once before. The Baja Sur 500 ran through the southern tip of the peninsula in 2015. But that race was a secondary event, not the flagship Baja 1000.
Jim Ryan, SCORE’s Vice President of Marketing and Sales, confirmed the agreement with the Baja California Sur state government and the municipality of Los Cabos. The route will traverse mountains, deserts, and coastal terrain across the southern state. SCORE has not yet published the exact course map, but point-to-point Baja 1000 routes have historically covered between 850 and 1,100 miles depending on the edition.
The Baja 1000 drew roughly 250 race teams in its 2024 edition. Trophy Truck, the race’s premier class, attracts drivers with budgets exceeding $1 million per team. Formula 1 and Dakar Rally competitors are expected to enter the 2026 race, though SCORE has not confirmed specific names.
Four-Race 2026 SCORE Season Spans the Full Peninsula
The Baja 1000 in Los Cabos will cap a four-race 2026 SCORE World Desert Championship calendar held entirely on the Baja California peninsula. The season opens with the San Felipe 250 from March 25 to 29 in San Felipe, Baja California. The SCORE Baja 500 follows June 3 to 7 in Ensenada. The SCORE Baja 400 runs September 9 to 13, also in Ensenada. Then the Baja 1000 closes the season in Los Cabos in November.
That calendar spreads racing activity across eight months and three Baja cities. Ensenada, which has long dominated the SCORE calendar, retains two of the four events. San Felipe, a fishing town on the Sea of Cortez popular with weekend visitors from Arizona and Southern California, gets the opener. Los Cabos takes the finale.
SCORE International is the sole sanctioning body for the Baja 1000 and has organized the race since 1974. The organization is based in Reno, Nevada, and its events draw a primarily North American audience. NBC Sports and ESPN Deportes have broadcast Baja 1000 coverage in previous years.
November Race Week Coincides With Los Cabos Shoulder Season
The November 9 to 15 race window falls during a transitional period for Los Cabos tourism. Hurricane season officially ends November 30, and hotel occupancy typically dips between late October and mid-November before climbing toward the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Los Cabos averaged 73% hotel occupancy in November 2024, according to the Los Cabos Hotel Association.
Race week will bring a distinct crowd: teams hauling trailers of spare parts, support crews with pit equipment, and spectators who travel the desert racing circuit. The 2024 Baja 1000 in Ensenada generated an estimated $30 million in economic impact for that city, according to Ensenada’s tourism promotion board. Los Cabos officials are betting the Baja 1000 can deliver a comparable boost.
Road closures are a near certainty along the race route, though the specific roads affected will depend on the course SCORE designs. Previous Baja 1000 editions have closed sections of the Transpeninsular Highway (Highway 1) and feeder roads for hours at a time. If you plan to be in Los Cabos during that week, expect disruptions to highway travel between San José del Cabo, Cabo San Lucas, and points north toward La Paz.
The Baja California Sur State Tourism Secretariat and the Los Cabos City Council will coordinate logistics with SCORE. Spectator access points, pre-race technical inspections (known as contingencia), and the start/finish festival area have not been announced. SCORE typically releases detailed event logistics three to four months before each race. The source for this reporting is Posta.