The Dacia Sandriders has begun its bid for Dakar Rally glory today (Friday) with a trouble-free run through the Prologue, a 29-kilometre loop close to the Bivouac in Bisha, Saudi Arabia.
Nasser Al-Attiyah, who scored a debut victory for The Dacia Sandriders on Rallye du Maroc last October, was the first driver to tackle the Prologue for round one of the 2025 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship.
The Qatari, who his bidding for his sixth Dakar Rally victory in 21 attempts, set the third fastest time alongside French navigator Edouard Boulanger.
Frenchman Sébastien Loeb, with Belgian Fabian Lurquin navigating, was sixth fastest as Cristina Gutiérrez and navigator Pablo Moreno, from Spain, went 16th quickest.
All three Dacia Sandrider Ultimate category cars, which are equipped with BFGoodrich tyres and use Aramco sustainable fuel, ran without problems through the Prologue.
While the Prologue doesn’t count towards the overall classification, the results are used to help determine the starting order for Stage 1 tomorrow (January 4), with the 10 fastest drivers earning the right to select their starting position for the first competitive action.
The Dacia Sandriders will spend the remainder of Friday preparing for Stage 1 of the Dakar Rally (Bisha-Bisha), which covers a route of 500 kilometres, including 412 kilometres against the clock. The event is due to finish Shubaytah in the east of Saudi Arabia on January 17.
KEY QUOTES
Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar), driver, The Dacia Sandriders : « I’m really happy, to open the road and finish top three. I had a good speed, Edouard did a good job with the navigation. Today was really very tricky, not easy but I’m really happy to start and now I feel confident and strong. Tomorrow is a proper stage, more than 400 kilometres. We will put a strategy for the next two days and I hope I can do it in a good way. »
Cristina Gutierrez (Spain), driver, the Dacia Sandriders : « For us it was the first time in the car after many months and for the way we wanted to start the Dakar it was perfect. We want to be humble and in the Prologue we wanted to be careful because in the Prologue you have more things to lose than to win. We are in the competition, we are competitive and this is the most important for the rest of the race. We need to go little by little tomorrow because we have a lot of things to learn from now to the finish of the Dakar. For sure we will learn a lot because at the moment we are learning but we want to be as competitive as we can be. »
Sébastien Loeb (France), driver, the Dacia Sandriders : « Sixth place in the Prologue is not bad because we wanted to be in the top 10 to have the possibility to choose our road position for tomorrow. We had a clean drive with no mistakes and we could see some guys were pushing already quite hard. But it’s okay, it’s just the start of the rally, the position was okay and the car was good, no problem. »
Dakar Rally prologue results – Bisha-Bisha
Stage distance: 29km / Liaison distance: 50km / Total distance: 79km
3rd: Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Edouard Boulanger (FRA), 15m28.6s
6th: Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL), 16m01.5s
16th: Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP)/Pablo Moreno (ESP), 16m20.8s
Dakar Rally: The big number
2: The Dacia Sandriders has started its first Dakar Rally with two drivers, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Sébastien Loeb, in the top 10 of the Prologue stage.
The Day ahead : Stage 1, January 4
The first real Dakar Rally stage will test cars and crews to their limits, with a route made up of mixed terrain and complicated navigation. Drivers must stay alert to avoid the risk of car damage from flying rocks and stones, while the navigators’ sense of direction is key in an environment where it is easy to lose your way.
Stage distance: 412km / Liaison distance: 88km / Total distance: 500km
Linda Hirvonen,