The Dacia Sandriders is facing a mission of both discovery and recovery on Desafío Ruta 40 following a day of frustration in the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship.
Competing in Argentina for the first time, The Dacia Sandriders leads the Drivers’, ‘Navigators’ and Manufacturers’ championships after back-to-back wins on the Dakar Rally and Rally-Raid Portugal earlier this season.
But round three of the 2026 W2RC has proved to be even more challenging than expected with championship pacesetters Sébastien Loeb and Édouard Boulanger delayed by three enforced tyre changes during Stage 1, which started and finished in the western Argentine city of San Juan today (Monday).
Already hamstrung by having to open the road as the W2RC leaders, Loeb/Boulanger picked up two slow deflations, before unavoidable contact with a rock 50 kilometres from the stage finish resulted in a third damaged tyre.
Defending world champion Lucas Moraes, who is navigated by Dennis Zenz, was also out of luck, picking up tyre damage on two occasions. The Brazilian also lost time due to navigational issues.
Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin dropped precious time stopping to assist their teammatesLoeb/Boulanger, a gesture required in any human and sporting adventure but one that embodies the Dacia spirit.
Al-Attiyah/Lurquin also had to manage a deflating tyre for much of the stage, but were quick to highlight the performance of their sustainable-fuelled Dacia Sandrider upon arrival at the Circuito San Juan Villicum bivouac this evening, despite their starting position of second behind Loeb/Boulanger.
With Stage 1 complete, Al-Attiyah/Lurquin are in eighth position, Loeb/Boulanger ninth and Moraes/Zenz 15th.
Featuring sections on open desert, dried-up riverbeds, salt flats and gravel plains, Stage 1 of Desafío Ruta 40 ran predominantly on soil stretches. It reached an altitude of 988 metres at its highest point, with 340 of the 511 kilometres counting towards the overall classification.
KEY QUOTES
NASSER AL-ATTIYAH (QATAR), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS : « We start with a good pace until 200 kilometres when we get lost a little bit for two minutes. Then we stopped for Seb and Édouard to give them a spare wheel. We had one puncture, so today was like a survival day but we are quite happy with the performance. »
SÉBASTIEN LOEB (FRANCE), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS : « The day was complicated, being first on the road with all these bushes was really difficult, the line of the motorbikes [running ahead on the road] is sometimes difficult to follow. We did our best, but we had a slow puncture quite early in the stage and finally we had to change it. Then we had another puncture and then 50 kilometres from the end a third one. Luckily for us Nasser was not far behind and stopped to give us a wheel, so thank you to Nasser. It’s not the best day we could have had but, at the end, we’re at the end of the day. »
LUCAS MORAES (BRAZIL), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS : « We had a good start and were top three or top four. Then we go our first puncture, but we were still top seven. But then another puncture, very slow, and then we made two navigationalmistakes that we try to understand how because it cost us a lot of time. At least the three cars finished today because it was a very demanding stage. We’re still in the race, but we’ve got to keep fighting now. »
FABIAN LURQUIN (BELGIUM), NAVIGATOR, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS : « Not a bad day but not the perfect day. Globally it could have been better, it could have been worse. We had a slow puncture from the very beginning that we managed to take all the way through without stopping to change it, although, towards the end, we had to slow down to step the tyre from coming out of the rim, so I guess we lost some time there. We had a good rhythm, we lost two minutes of navigation in one point. But, luckily at that point, Seb was in front of us, he gets a puncture and had no more spares so we gave him one spare tyre, so actually that’s a good thing for the team. »
DESAFÍO RUTA 40 STAGE 1 RESULTS (UNOFFICIAL)
San Juan–San Juan – Stage distance: 340km Liaison distance: 171km Total distance: 511km
8. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL), 3h39m56s
9. Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Édouard Boulanger (FRA), 3h43m36s
15. Lucas Moraes (BRA)/Dennis Zenz (GER), 3h48m36s
DESAFÍO RUTA 40: THE BIG NUMBER
1: The Dacia Sandriders is contesting Desafío Ruta 40, round three of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship for the first time.
THE DAY AHEAD: STAGE 2, MAY 26
The event heads south from San Juan into Mendoza for stage two and to the second bivouac in San Rafael via a route featuring gravel, salt flats and sand with asphalt and dunes thrown in for good measure.
Stage distance: 128km Liaison distance: 506km Total distance: 634km
Linda Hirvonen,