As already announced last year, the five-time Dakar Rally winner Nasser Al-Attiyah, world rally legend Sebastian Loeb and Christina Gutierrez will be the three Dacia factory pilots.
During the presentation, Dacia also revealed that next year it will participate in the entire season of the World Rally Raid Championship, instead of focusing only on Dakar.
As explained by the responsible director David Durans, the demands of the athletes were taken into account when preparing the Dacia Sandrider car. The Romanian brand’s car retains the characteristics of the existing Hunter produced by Prodrive, but has a new turbocharged three-liter V6 engine that will run on synthetic fuel. Prodrive, which retains its logo on the front of the car, helped Dacia find the perfect weight balance, lower the center of gravity and introduce innovative systems, including a patented heat management system that uses an infrared pigment to reduce temperatures.
Dacia plans to launch the Sandrider in the UK as early as April, although the first tests will not take place until June in Morocco. In October, “Dacia” will participate in the Moroccan Rally, preparing for the 2025 Dakar Rally.
Dacia is committed to participating in the Dakar Rally until at least 2027, as confirmed at the presentation.
Photo: Dacia
Loeb admitted that there was one area where Dacia and Prodrive paid particular attention. “There was a lot of discussion about a lot of details, but the main thing was visibility, because sometimes we have problems with where we drive, so we did a lot of testing. We thought it would be a big benefit.”
“Dacia” announced that Tiffany Isnard will be the team leader. The Frenchwoman has gained a wealth of experience working with Loeb, as well as taking victories in Dakar with Stephane Peteransel. First, she took over the management of the team’s logistics, and then the management of the entire team. Philip Dunaben will be the technical director, and he is by no means a novice, having worked in the technical field in this type of competition for many years before.
2024-01-30 19:57:43
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