Dacia Sandrider to begin testing in March

The Dacia Sandriders will come together for their first session as a team in March, immediately after the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, where they’ll begin testing their eponymous car. The Sandrider is scheduled to make its racing début at the Rallye du Maroc in October before pursuing the World Rally-Raid Championships in 2025 and 2026.

The car was revealed in late January with Nasser Al-Attiyah, Cristina Gutiérrez, and Sébastien Loeb as drivers. Al-Attiyah and Loeb already compete for Dacia’s technical partner Prodrive in the Hunter while Gutiérrez races in the Challenger category. While the former two will run the full W2RC campaigns over the next two years, team principal Tiphanie Isnard noted Gutiérrez’s timetable could vary since she does not have as much experience in the top-level Ultimate class.

“We’re keeping our options open for Cristina because we want to support her as she tackles increasingly tougher challenges,” Isnard told W2RC.com. “She’ll be developing a lot, so we’ll take it step by step and expand her calendar when the right time comes. They’re all free to race for any constructor in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, but in early March we’ll start our development and intensive testing schedule. They’ll have access to all the engineering data for the Sandrider and, from that moment on, they’ll be Dacia factory drivers. We won’t bar them from taking a Hunter or even a T3 out for a spin so they can stay sharp, but the Dacia testing programme will be the top priority.”

Gutiérrez won the season-opening Dakar Rally in the Challenger category. Al-Attiyah won a stage in Ultimate but retired halfway, while Loeb finished third overall with five stage victories. Neither Loeb nor Gutiérrez are racing for W2RC points, unlike Al-Attiyah who is pursuing his third consecutive title. Al-Attiyah joined Prodrive for 2024 after seven years at Toyota.

The Dacia programme is contracted through the 2027 Dakar Rally.

“When it comes to marketing and communications, winning the Dakar leaves a striking impression on the general public because it is the best-known rally. However, we are a team dedicated to the sport, so claiming the manufacturers’ or drivers’ world championship titles is every bit as important,” Isnard continued. “Preparation is key because our goal is crystal clear: to triumph as soon as the 2025 Dakar and take the world championship title. Extensive testing and race experience are key to maximising our chances of achieving these goals. The championship is a dual exercise in training and performance, which is essential. Signing up for the world championship is also a token of Dacia’s commitment: we come, we get it right and we keep going until the end. The W2RC is definitely a must.”

Although Prodrive is involved with the project, Isnard stressed the Sandrider is in “no way a revamped Hunter.” Both cars are T1+ regulation, which is the top subcategory in Ultimate and differs from other T1 vehicles in that they have more suspension travel and larger tyres at 350 mm and 37 inches, respectively. Otherwise, the Sandrider draws more from the Dacia Manifesto concept car with a slimmer carbon body for improved aerodynamics and a tubular chassis.

The Sandrider uses a three-liter twin turbo direct injection V6 Nissan engine, identical to that of the REVO Red-Lined T1+.

“It was more about picking certain reliable and high-performance pieces from the Hunter,” commented Isnard. “The Dacia design department was responsible for designing our prototype from the ground up. We also marshalled the engineering resources of the group with Alpine (sister company; Dacia and Alpine are both owned by Renault Group) and chose a Nissan engine. It’s a whole new chassis, a whole new engine and an overhauled cockpit.”

The Sandriders are Dacia’s first factory rally raid programme since they provided limited support to Emiliano Spataro’s Dacia Duster in the 2010s. Renault Group previously had a larger effort in the 1980s and 1990s that won three times.