What was very much a test event for the all-new team and its sustainably fuelled Dacia Sandriders, ended in a standout FIA World Rally-Raid Championship victory.
Of greater significance, however, was the fact that Rallye du Maroc served as perfect preparation for January’s Dakar, the toughest event on the international motorsport calendar, and the next challenge for The Dacia Sandriders.
Having led from the start by winning Monday’s first stage, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Edouard Boulanger secured victory to become the FIA World Rally-Raid champion driver and co-driver for 2024 respectively once results achieved with different teams earlier in the year were taken into account.
Al-Attiyah, from Qatar, is now a three-time world champion, while his Rallye du Maroc victory was his seventh in total.
Having won Wednesday’s longest stage, the 325-kilometre from Zagora to Mengoub, Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin completed Rallye du Maroc by winning Stage 5 on a famous Friday for The Dacia Sandriders. After starting the final day in fourth position, Loeb’s charging drive meant he finished second overall to deliver an emphatic 1-2 for The Dacia Sandriders.
Cristina Gutiérrez and Pablo Moreno battled back from a series of earlier setbacks to finish seventh on Stage 5 held over typically challenging off-road terrain.
With three stage wins out of five and a one-two finish, The Dacia Sandriders was able to demonstrate great performance, while also gathering crucial data and feedback. But the work to be ready for the 2025 Dakar, which takes place in Saudi Arabia from January 3-17, has only just begun, with a month of intense preparation in store before The Dacia Sandriders heads to the Middle East at the end of the year to take on its greatest challenge yet.
