Three Dacia Sandriders battle for 2025 Dakar Rally victory

Three Dacia Sandriders are ready for the 2025 Dakar Rally, which kicks off on Friday, as it looks to build on its strong recent performance despite being the first time the brand is aiming for outright victory in the world’s toughest rally. able to make it one of the most intense rally races. competitor. It’s been eighteen months since Dacia announced its plans for the Dakar Rally, which will see Team Sandrid drive from the west to the east of Saudi Arabia between January 3 and 17.

Dacia has a strong trio of drivers that will help it compete with rivals including Ford and Toyota. At the wheel of the No. 200 car are Nasser Al-Attiyah and Édouard Boulanger, while in the cockpit are Cristina Gutiérrez and Pablo Moreno in the No. 212 car. Driving the #219 Sandrider are WRC legends Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin. In October, Dacia achieved a 1-2 result in the Morocco Rally, the predecessor of the Dakar Rally, and was well prepared for the event.

READ: Dacia tests Sandrider in Wales, France and Morocco ahead of 2025 Dakar

This year’s event kicks off with the Prologue stage, followed by 12 days of 5,145 km (3,196 mi) time trials. There is only one rest day and overnight stay in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The most brutal stage in this year’s event is the 48-hour time trial, which is 971 kilometers long and passes through harsh environments across the country. The total mileage of the rally is 7,726 kilometers (4,800 miles).

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Since the Sandrider’s success in Morocco, Dacia has been working hard to improve reliability to ensure it can cope with the two-week journey through Saudi Arabia. Engine cooling has also been optimized.

“Through testing and rallying in Morocco, we encountered some problems with the electronics that control the engine fans,” said technical director Philip Dunabin. “With the help of Alpine Racing, we’ve been able to take a pretty in-depth look at the fan’s electronics, and we’ve taken a number of steps with the fan manufacturer to improve the reliability of these components.”

The Dacia Sandrider’s carbon fiber body sits atop a lightweight tubular chassis and is powered by a 355-horsepower 3.0-liter twin-turbocharged V6 engine mated to a six-speed sequential transmission driving all four wheels. The car uses Aramco’s synthetic fuel and competes in the Ultimate T1+ class.