Dacia has confirmed a full works entry into the World Rally-Raid Championship from 2025, culminating in a Dakar Rally assault as part of the rally's T1+ category.
The Romanian firm - owned by the Renault Group since 1999 - will partner with British motorsport experts at Prodrive to develop its entries, as well as using the expertise of its in-house technical engineers.
Dacia is aiming to enter a prototype of its Dakar challenger into the 2024 Rallye du Maroc ahead of the 2025 season.
Dacia's drivers
Dacia has already confirmed its two drivers for the championship, with nine-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb among the first of its signings.
Loeb dominated the World Rally Championship with Citroen from 2004 to 2012, winning the drivers' title nine times in a row. He has also competed in the World Touring Car Championship and the World Rallycross Championship.
The Frenchman has also contested the Dakar Rally seven times, first with Peugeot and most recently with the Bahraini BRX team - though he has yet to claim an overall victory, despite finishing on the podium four times.
Completing Dacia's line-up is Spanish rally driver Cristina Gutierrez, who in 2017 became the first Spanish woman to finish the Dakar Rally in the car category. She made history in 2021 by winning the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies, becoming the first female driver to do so.
Both drivers have competed successfully in the Extreme E off-road championship as part of Lewis Hamilton's X44 team.
Tech and engineering
Prodrive - which has been involved in the Dakar Rally since 2020 - will assist Dacia in its championship bid, playing a role in the construction and engineering of its rally-raid challenger.
Prodrive partnered with the BRX team for the 2021 Dakar Rally, with Sebastien Loeb piloting the BRX Hunter to second-place finishes in 2022 and 2023.
The Banbury-based company has been active in various forms of motorsport for nearly 40 years, with success in the World Rally Championship and the British Touring Car Championship, among others.
Also partnering with Dacia is Saudi petroleum company Aramco, which will supply the team with synthetic test fuel, conceived as a more sustainable alternative to traditional fossil fuels.
Combining renewable hydrogen with captured CO2, the new lower-carbon fuel is claimed to be more environmentally friendly while remaining compatible with internal combustion engines. Dacia has described the Dakar Rally as "the ideal testing ground for this technology."
Dacia and Dakar
Brothers Claude and Bernard Marreau took the Renault Group's first Dakar Rally win in 1982, piloting a four-wheel-drive 20 saloon from Paris to overall victory.
Dacia made its Dakar Rally debut in 2013. Emiliano Spataro drove a modified Duster to a best finish of 14th in 2014, receiving limited factory support from the Renault Group.
"Dacia and Dakar are a perfect match!" said Dacia CEO Denis Le Vot. "Not only is this a test of Dacia's true robustness, it is a showing of our commitment to low-carbon mobility."
"We are very excited to take part in Dakar with synthetic fuel technology. Dacia, alongside the best team and drivers in the game, are serious contenders for the rally."