The Dacia Sandriders will switch to competition mode for the first time later this week when Nasser Al-Attiyah / Édouard Boulanger, Cristina Gutiérrez / Pablo Moreno and Sébastien Loeb / Fabian Lurquin contest the Rallye du Maroc (6 – 11 October 2024), the 2024 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship season decider and the perfect practice run for January’s Dakar.
Having tested the Ultimate category Sandrider extensively in the UK, France and Morocco during the summer, The Dacia Sandriders will aim to put all of that valuable learning into practice on an event described as a miniature Dakar, motorsport’s ultimate test of driver and machine.
While Rallye du Maroc, which covers a total distance of 2,468 kilometres, represents a competitive first for The Dacia Sandriders, its driving and team personnel have experience of the African rally-raid event from recent seasons. That gives the squad an important platform from which to progress. Nasser Al-Attiyah, a five-time Dakar winner, was victorious on Rallye du Maroc as recently as 2021.
Tiphanie Isnard, The Dacia Sandriders’ team principal said: “In less than three months we’ll be in Saudi Arabia for Dakar and for what will be an extraordinary human challenge. But you can’t run before you can walk and that’s why we’ve entered the final round of the 2024 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship to get more important practice and confirm all that we have been learning and developing during testing.
With five test sessions complete this will be our first race and we’re ready for this real-life rehearsal before we embark on our mission to conquer Dakar. To get to this point has required a huge amount of effort and hard work. The dedication of all members of our team has been incredible and I’m really proud of each and every one of them for what they have done.”
A founding round of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship in 2022, Rallye du Maroc forms the season-decider for the second season in 2024. Getting under way with a Prologue in Marrakech to the west of Morocco this week and finishing in Mengoub Bouârfa to the northeast of the country on 11 October, the event is all about sand dunes, rock-strewn stretches, rough gravel sections and searing heat. Of the 2,468-kilometre total distance, 1,512 kilometres are against the clock, to underline the intensity of the challenge ahead for The Dacia Sandriders.
Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar), driver, the Dacia Sandriders said: “Rallye du Maroc is not only very important for the championship, but also very important for the teams because everybody is coming to prepare for Dakar. At this moment we are leading the championship and from my side we need to be clever, we need to manage with a good speed and do no crazy thing because the Sandrider is a new car and we must try to work day by day. I hope to win the world title and be the world champion, it would be nice for me and for my co-driver Edouard as well.”
Cristina Gutiérrez (Spain), driver, the Dacia Sandriders added: “It will be our first race with the Sandrider after a long series of tests and I’m very excited. It will also be my first race in a new category as I jump from the Challenger to the Ultimate class. A lot of new things are coming as it’s a new car, new category and new team but I already feel very comfortable with The Dacia Sandriders and I hope we can confirm the work done during the tests on Rallye du Maroc. I have some pressure but it’s a positive pressure, the type that makes you give the best of yourself. Of course, it will be a race of preparation for Dakar, but I hope we can achieve a good result and have fun.”
Sébastien Loeb (France), driver, the Dacia Sandriders said: “After all the hard work in testing we can finally measure ourselves against the competition and see where we are in terms of performance, but also because we’re starting a new adventure with this top team. It will be a full-scale test, a live rehearsal you could say, so the objective is, above all to see that everything is in place and working properly. If it isn’t this is the opportunity to identify the problems and resolve them before Dakar. But if we can get a good result, that would be even better.”
