The Dacia Sandriders has taken the lead of Rally-Raid Portugal as the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship event crossed into neighbouring Spain today (Thursday) during an action-packed Stage 2.
Just 28 seconds adrift of first place following Wednesday’s opening stage, Sébastien Loeb and navigator Édouard Boulanger were rapid throughout and highly deserving of their fastest-time performance in their sustainable-fuelled Dacia Sandrider.
They set off from the western Portuguese town of Grândola this morning third on the road, reaching the 32-kilometre checkpoint ahead of their closest two rivals before moving into the virtual overall lead after 78 kilometres.
Despite late pressure, Loeb/Boulanger completed the 377-kilometre stage – the longest of round two of the 2026 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) – with a winning margin of nine seconds and an overall lead of 40s.
It was Loeb’s sixth stage win since he joined The Dacia Sandriders, the team’s 19th in the W2RC and its third in 2026 after Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin took two stage wins on their way to claiming victory on the Dakar Rally season opener.
Al-Attiyah/Lurquin dropped time on day one by opening the road, while a one-minute penalty for over-speeding in a controlled section left them eighth overnight and 3m14s off top spot.
They were seventh fastest today due to set-up issues and occupy the same position in the overall ranking, a gain of one position.
Fast but ultimately hampered by bent steering following contact with a fence on Wednesday, Lucas Moraes and Dennis Zenz climbed from sixth to fifth after they set the fourth fastest time on Stage 2, despite hitting a tree. Moraes won Rally-Raid Portugal in 2025 on his way to claiming the W2RC title before he joined The Dacia Sandriders for the 2026 season.
The longest stage of Rally-Raid Portugal at 377 kilometres, today’s route took crews from Grândola in Portugal to Badajoz in Spain’s Extremadura region. Running on terrain described by the organisers as ‘sandy but firm’ and featuring loose stones and water splashes, the first 30 kilometres upon arrival in Spain took crews over mountain passes before the stage descended onto plains across agricultural land, albeit on more rugged and narrow tracks.
KEY QUOTES
NASSER AL-ATTIYAH (QATAR), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS : « It was a difficult day for us. We decide to go with different shocks from the Dakar, but it was really not helping a lot on loose surfaces. We try to come back again to where we finished last year here in the race, just to get the car more easy to drive. Otherwise, everything was good, we just need to build the confidence. Still we have three days to go, six minutes is a lot and it’s not easy, but we try to think about the championship, this is important. »
SÉBASTIEN LOEB (FRANCE), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS : « It was very mixed, the start was really wet with a lot of high-speed sections in the forest. Then when it started to be a bit more twisty it was more and more dry during the stage. After that the conditions were quite okay, just some big watersplashes in somme places but, overall, the grip was okay. It was a long day, a lot of little sections because we had some controlled zones and so on, but I tried to get a good rhythm. I pushed hard in the twisty parts, I was careful in the fast places. The feeling with the Dacia Sandrider was really good, we had no problem at all, so it was a good day. It was a great battle today with Guy Botterill and Seth Quintero, it was very, very tight between us, everybody is pushing hard. The stages are nice to drive, I really had fun in the car, we will try to continue. The stages in this area when you are opening is not really good normally. From previous years we know there is quite a lot of road cleaning. But, if it’s wet, maybe it will be a bit different, we’ll see. I don’t know how much it affects to open the road. We saw João Ferreira opening today and losing time. I hope I will not lose too much tomorrow. »
LUCAS MORAES (BRAZIL), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS : « A tree jumped in front of the car, I think it was moving too fast! We did half of the stage quite well, I think we were 1-2 Seb and I, leading the stage. But just small mistakes. The pace we are going is quite crazy to be honest in these very narrow and muddy conditions. But, on the other hand, I am happy, we are here at the finish, congrats to The Dacia Sandriders and to Seb and Édouard for the win today, we’ll try again tomorrow without any trees. At least we are not opening tomorrow, there are three cars ahead, we will try, we definitely have the pace, we just need to put a day together. I am looking forward to tomorrow, and thanks to the whole Dacia team. »
ÉDOUARD BOULANGER (FRANCE), NAVIGATOR, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS : « The stage was long, tricky, muddy, slippery… for sure it was super-tricky for Seb to drive carefully. To keep the rhythm is not super-easy because we never know if we are pushing too much or not enough. In the Dacia Sandrider it went super-well, just two U-turns because some junctions were hidden. But a really good day in the office, it seems we did a faster time than the others, but in the car we keep it cautious. »
RALLY-RAID PORTUGAL STAGE 2 RESULTS (UNOFFICIAL) – Grândola (Portugal)-Badajoz (Spain)
Stage distance: 377km Liaison distance: 170km Total distance: 547km
1. Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Édouard Boulanger (FRA), 2h47m47s
4. Lucas Moraes (BRA)/Dennis Zenz (GER), 2h49m49s
7. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL), 2h51m13s
RALLY-RAID PORTUGAL PROVISIONAL ULTIMATE CATEGORY OVERALL RESULTS AFTER STAGE 2 (UNOFFICIAL)
1. Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Édouard Boulanger (FRA), 4h22m13s
5. Lucas Moraes (BRA)/Dennis Zenz (GER), +3m20s
7. Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL), +6m12s
RALLY-RAID PORTUGAL: THE BIG NUMBER
377: At 377 kilometres in length, Stage 2 of Rally-Raid Portugal was the event’s longest stage in terms of the timed distance covered.
THE DAY AHEAD: STAGE 3, MARCH 20
Day three of Rally-Raid Portugal is based entirely in Spain with the action starting and finishing in Badajoz, the location of the second of three bivouacs along the route. Organisers have prepared a stage that’s described as the event’s fastest and considered to be similar in terrain and challenge compared to 2025. After winning Stage 2, Sébastien Loeb and Édouard Boulanger will open the road for The Dacia Sandriders.
Stage distance: 296km Liaison distance: 203km Total distance: 499km
Linda Hirvonen,