The Dacia Sandriders has staked its claim to Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge glory by going fastest on today’s Prologue stage ahead of round two of the 2025 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship getting under way for real tomorrow (Sunday).
Fresh from their stage-winning heroics on last month’s Dakar Rally, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Edouard Boulanger posted the fastest time through the 11-kilometre trial test, the results of which help to determine the starting order for Stage 1 on February 23.
And to underline the strong performance of the Dacia Sandrider, which uses sustainable fuel from Aramco and tyres from BFGoodrich, Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin were third quickest, just 0.09s behind their team-mates.
« The Prologue was really good with a good pace and it’s always good for the mindset to start in these conditions, » said Tiphanie Isnard, Team Principal of The Dacia Sandriders. « It’s a big thanks to the team because they worked really hard to rebuild Seb’s car following his crash on the Dakar to be here and ready on time. The Prologue performance was a continuity of what we have done during the test. We plan to keep up the pace, but the goal is always to learn and
improve. If we are doing as we have done at the end of the Dakar with reliability, teamwork and keeping focused, normally we will gain points and have a good place in the championship. »
While the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge is not part of their competition schedule for 2025, Cristina Gutiérrez and Pablo Moreno – who impressed during the Dakar Rally with four top-10 stage times – are in Abu Dhabi to support their colleagues from The Dacia Sandriders. They will resume their W2RC campaign later in the season.
The Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge features five stages from tomorrow (Sunday) until Thursday (February 27) with the action is based in the spectacular sand dunes to the east and southeast of the emirate.
Al-Attiyah, from Qatar, is a four-time Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge winner, including in 2024, when Boulanger navigated him to victory for what was the Frenchman’s second first-place Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge finish. Loeb, who is also from France, and Belgian Lurquin placed eighth overall in 2022.
Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar), driver, The Dacia Sandriders : « It was really nice to start again after what we can say was a long break after the Dakar. I’m really happy with the performance of the Dacia Sandrider. We win the Prologue and this is very important even if we start as the second car. But we had a really, really good pace and the car was working very well. We spent two days here testing and changing many things to be ready for the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, because it’s totally on sand. We are quite happy and we try to do every day like this. »
Sébastien Loeb (France), driver, The Dacia Sandriders : « The Prologue was okay for us but completely different to the stages we will have during the next days because it was a hard surface on a track and we will have sand dunes during the rally.
« But the feeling with the Dacia Sandrider was good. We tried to do a good stage with no mistakes, so it was okay. »
ABU DHABI DESERT CHALLENGE PROLOGUE RESULTS – Al Ain
Stage distance: 11km / Liaison distance: 58km / Total distance: 69km
1st: Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Edouard Boulanger (FRA), 6m23.8s
3rd: Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL), +0.09s
ABU DHABI DESERT CHALLENGE: THE BIG NUMBER
1: The Dacia Sandriders has begun the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge on top with Nasser Al-Attiyah and Edouard Boulanger going quickest through the Prologue stage.
THE DAY AHEAD: STAGE 1, FEBRUARY 23
Following today’s Prologue, the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge, round two of the 2025 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship, begins for real on Sunday February 23 with the first of five competitive stages. A 400-kilometre route takes crews from Al Ain to Mezeer’ah with 157 kilometres against the clock on sand dunes.
Stage distance: 243km / Liaison distance: 157km / Total distance: 400km
Linda Hirvonen,