The Dacia Sandriders won the 48th Dakar Rally. Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin secured victory, finishing nearly 10 minutes ahead.
In only its second FIA World Rally-Raid Championship, Dacia’s expertise in building robust vehicles has been recognised again.
All three other Dacia Sandriders crews finished the race.
Sébastien Loeb and Édouard Boulanger finished fourth. Lucas Moraes and Dennis Zenz placed seventh. Cristina Gutiérrez and Pablo Moreno finished 11th.
Over 13 days covering 7,976 kilometres, the Dacia Sandriders won two stages and dropped out of the top three only once.
Their success was thanks to the drivers, navigators, the Sandrider’s design, and the team’s hard work.
Katrin Adt, Dacia CEO, said: “We did it! What an achievement, what an adventure, what a performance! Today is a historic moment and the proudest moment for the whole Dacia brand. It is the result of so much hard work by so many talented people, and it shows that The Dacia Sandrider, like our road cars, is reliable and robust.
“All the team members deserve this result, and they should be incredibly proud of what they have done, achieving victory so early on in Dacia’s Dakar journey.”
Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin took a 16m02s lead into the final 105-kilometre stage around Yanbu.
Al-Attiyah and Lurquin drove cautiously and secured victory by 9 minutes and 42 seconds.
Sébastien Loeb and Édouard Boulanger started Stage 13 just 29 seconds from a podium finish. They finished fourth, 37 seconds short of third place.
Lucas Moraes and Dennis Zenz secured seventh overall after a one-minute speeding penalty.
Cristina Gutiérrez and Pablo Moreno improved to 11th overall.
This achievement takes Nasser Al-Attiyah to his sixth Dakar Rally win (2011, 2015, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2026).
For Fabian Lurquin, this was his first Dakar Rally win and the first for a Belgian navigator in the car category.
- You can visit the Dacia website for more, including the Dacia vehicle range, here: http://www.dacia.co.uk/
