There was double reason for celebration in Sun City this afternoon, after Nasser Al-Attiyah and Édouard Boulanger claimed their second stage win of the W2RC event, having also gone quickest during Thursday’s third stage.
Having only contested three desert-based W2RC rounds since its debut last October, The Dacia Sandriders, with its pair of sustainably fuelled cars, was challenged on varied terrain ranging from open savannah to narrow farmland tracks. Despite the change in terrain, the cars passed the tough test with flying colours in second and 10th overall, as the team maintained its challenge for the overall Driver, Navigator and Manufacturer titles.
After three W2RC rounds, Al-Attiyah and Boulanger are 20 points in front in the provisional Driver and Navigator rankings respectively with 114 points. Loeb and Lurquin are ninth with 40 points, while The Dacia Sandriders team is second in the Manufacturers’ table, with 206 points.
HOW THE FINAL STAGE VICTORY BATTLE UNFOLDED
Sébastien Loeb and Fabien Lurquin had completed Stage 4 on Friday just 1 minute and 5 seconds behind local hero Henk Lategan in the battle for the South African Safari Rally victory. Once event officials adjusted the times of a 2.5-kilometre section, following a disputed note in the roadbook, the gap was trimmed to just 39 seconds with 111 timed kilometres remaining.
Having finished runner-up for The Dacia Sandriders on its debut event, last October’s Rallye du Maroc, Frenchman Loeb trailed Lategan by 43 seconds at the 14-kilometre checkpoint. He was able to reduce that margin to 36 seconds after 37 kilometres, only for Lategan to edge clear by 1 minute and 3 seconds at the 58th kilometre. Although Loeb was able to narrow the gap to 54 seconds after 96 kilometres, second place was the end result after five days of intense action over 1,197 competitive kilometres, with the top two separated by just 1 minute and 39 seconds.
Al-Attiyah, meanwhile, overcame Ford Rapter driver Carlos Sainz’s early challenge to win Stage 5 for the 45th stage win of his W2RC career and the eighth for The Dacia Sandriders. The Qatari crossed the finish line a commanding 1 minute and 56 seconds ahead of Toyota’s Lucas Moraes in the stage classification.
He would have challenged for the overall victory had he not been handed 17 minutes in penalties for inadvertently missing two waypoints earlier in the event.
Tiphanie Isnard, team principal, said: “It was a good result for The Dacia Sandriders. We met our objective to score points in the Manufacturers’ championship and keep the lead of the Drivers’ championship. It was the first time for us in South Africa, with very difficult terrain, completely different from what we have faced from the beginning. To be in front of cars that were built here is a really good result and we are happy to be second with Sébastien and to score more points with Nasser. For sure we can be in a better place on the sporting side if we had a 1-2 finish, but it’s just the third round of the season. Now we head back to the factory with more experience in the backpack. It’s a good result and I’m really proud of the team.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
The BP Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal hosts round four of the 2025 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship with Europe’s W2RC event taking place from 22 to 28 September 2025.
