The Dacia Sandriders is firmly in the Dakar Rally victory fight at the halfway point of the 48-hour Chrono stage tonight (Sunday) following more than 600 kilometres of demanding competition, including approximately 100 kilometres through Saudi Arabia’s challenging sand dunes.
Nasser Al-Attiyah and Édouard Boulanger are second in the provisional classification aboard the #200 Dacia Sandrider. Cristina Gutiérrez and Pablo Moreno (#212) hold 27th place with Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin fighting back to 17th after their #219 Dacia Sandrider was delayed by a technical issue shortly after 14h00 local time. They had been in second position.
« It was a tough diagnosis to make without telemetry nor engineers onsite to do our processes, but we think we have identified a technical issue, » team principal Tiphanie Isnard said of Loeb’s delay. « Sébastien managed to get going again, he is still in the race, and that is the main thing. Hats off to Cristina and Pablo who provided their assistance in this team effort. »
While Loeb has suffered a setback in his bid to win the Dakar Rally for the first time, Al-Attiyah is firmly in the mix for his sixth victory based on current positions.
The Qatari, who gave The Dacia Sandriders a debut win on Rallye du Maroc in October to clinch the 2024 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship crown for himself, began the marathon 48-hour Chrono stage on varied terrain north of Bisha from 19th on the road at 07h55 local time today.
After successfully negotiating the early rocky sections, Al-Attiyah capitalised on his prowess of driving across sand dunes – and the performance of his sustainably-fuelled Dacia Sandrider – to move in front at the 231-kilometre mark as Loeb climbed to third.
Third place then became second for Loeb after 325 kilometres, while Al-Attiyah slipped to second after 373 kilometres – more than two minutes behind the leader. While Al-Attiyah would claw some of that time back during the afternoon, second was as good as it would get for Frenchman Loeb as a result of the suspected electrical fault, which forced him to stop after 409 kilometres of high-speed driving.
Under Dakar Rally rules, competitors were required to stop for the overnight halt at the first bivouac they reached following the 17h00 curfew. The Dacia Sandriders made it as far as Break Zone E – located 618 kilometres from the stage start – where the team’s three crews will rest for the night before resuming the two-day second stage early in the morning (Monday).
However, with no technical assistance available, car and tyre preservation will once again be a key consideration for The Dacia Sandriders when Stage 2 resumes with a further 341 timed kilometres to negotiate before the finish at the bivouac in Bisha on Monday afternoon following 967 kilometres of competitive action.
Gutierrez’s Dakar Rally sunday explained
Cristina Gutiérrez, who is competing in the Ultimate category of the Dakar Rally for the first time, began Stage 2 at 07h22 local time from fifth on the road.
The ‘pitstop’ after 168 kilometres allowed running repairs to be made and fresh BFGoodrich tyres fitted to her Dacia Sandrider. But rather than set off immediately, the decision was taken for the Spaniard to wait for her team-mates to close up (Nasser Al-Attiyah started Stage 2 19th on the road at 07h55 with Sébastien Loeb following at 08h00 in 23rd place) and allow The Dacia Sandriders to run in closer proximity as team principal Tiphanie Isnard explained.
« It was a bit up and down today, but we start the stage really carefully as the first part was really rocky and we expected a lot of punctures. It was good to see that the drivers drove really carefully and good to see them at the remote service without any damage. The team did a perfect job at the remote service, it was really crazy to see a proper ‘pitstop’ in a rally-raid. At this time we decided to stop Cristina to optimise our chance to reach the finish line of the 48H Chrono and group all the three drivers together as a proper teamwork. Big thanks to Cristina to accept this decision.
« Unfortunately, Sébastien stopped with an electronic issue, we don’t know yet what is exactly the problem because the network was not really good to speak to him but definitely Cristina helped and this was good for the team to see them working together. At the end it’s good all three crews are together at the same bivouac tonight and we expect to have proper communication with them, especially with Seb to find the solution to finish the stage. I am completely confident they will all work together to fix the car and thank you to them for their great job today. »
Linda Hirvonen,