Nasser Al-Attiyah and Édouard Boulanger have maintained their push for The Dacia Sandriders’ debut Dakar Rally podium by reaching the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh today (Monday) just over five minutes behind third place.
Following their capture of the fourth fastest time on Sunday’s Al-Duwadimi loop stage, Al-Attiyah and Boulanger began the final week of the 2025 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship season opener this morning in fourth position in the overall ranking, 11 minutes adrift of the final podium spot.
By completing Stage 8 – a 488-kilometre charge from Al-Duwadimi-Riyadh – in 5h03m11s, they have been able to significantly reduce that deficit to 5m19s with four days of competition remaining.
Driving the #200 sustainably-fuelled Dacia Sandrider, Al-Attiyah and Boulanger’s performance secured the 11th fastest time as their road position of fourth proved far from favourable.
Starting three places behind in The Dacia Sandriders’ #212 entry, Cristina Gutiérrez and Pablo Moreno completed Stage 8 in 5h05m23s, the 12th quickest time.
Held over typically varied terrain including sections across rocky terrain, hills, canyons and sand dunes, Stage 8 was also a challenge for the navigators, as well as providing a tough mechanical test for The Dacia Sandriders. But the team, which only made its competition debut on Rallye du Maroc last October, excelled once again to keep its leading crew of Al-Attiyah and Boulanger firmly in the podium fight.
KEY QUOTES
Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar), driver, The Dacia Sandriders : « It was a very tough day. Sometimes we opened the road, which was not easy. When Yazeed (Al-Rajhi) came he had a good line and we followed him. Until the dunes we had passed him, but it was really difficult, so I am happy to finish this day. Still, we have four days left and we will see. The navigation was very hard today. Sometimes we had luck, sometimes no but we are here. »
Cristina Gutierrez (Spain), driver, The Dacia Sandriders : « The stage was quite difficult, we had everything from rocks to dunes, fast tracks, slow tracks. It was also easy to get lost. We had a couple of doubts, we come back and lost a bit of time. We started very early in the race and we didn’t have a super-clear way but we managed and we are happy and looking forward to the remaining stages.
DAKAR RALLY PROVISIONAL STAGE 8 RESULTS – Al-Duwadimi-Riyadh
Stage distance: 488km / Liaison distance: 250km / Total distance: 738km
11th: Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Édouard Boulanger (FRA), +12m17s
12th: Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP)/Pablo Moreno (ESP), +13m29s
DAKAR RALLY PROVISIONAL OVERALL RESULTS AFTER STAGE 8r
4th: Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Édouard Boulanger (FRA), +34m14s
TBC: Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP)/Pablo Moreno (ESP), +37h53m08s
DAKAR RALLY: THE BIG NUMBER
5m19s: Nasser Al-Attiyah and Édouard Boulanger are 5m19s adrift of third place on the Dakar Rally, which The Dacia Sandriders is contesting for the first time.
THE DAY AHEAD: STAGE 9, RIYADH-HARADH, JANUARY 14
Heading south from Riyadh, the route to Haradh is made up of mostly fast sections and is one of the Dakar Rally’s shorter stages at 357 kilometres and with a 232km liaison section.
Stage distance: 357km / Liaison distance: 232km / Total distance: 589km
Linda Hirvonen,