Dacia is starting early to prep for its debut in the gruelling (we’re contractually obliged to use that word) Dakar Rally, which will cross the deserts of Saudi Arabia next January. Take a look at the photo of it flying in mid-air! A flying Dacia! Flying cars are real! [No, they aren’t; now get on with the story. Ed.]
Works racing debut
The affordable brand will be making its works motorsport debut (the famous Logan that runs in the Nurburgring 24hrs, alas, doesn’t quite count) in the Dakar, and it has made a special racing machine with which to compete - the Sandrider. Based on the look of the Dacia Manifesto concept car, the Sandrider has now begun what will be a gruelling (that word again…) testing regime.
The team started with a basic systems check at the famed Millbrook Proving Ground test track in the UK before moving on to the Sweet Lamb testing complex in Wales - home to so many glorious drives on the RAC and, latterly, Rally Wales GB rallies. Remember Colin McRae in the blue Subaru? That was Sweet Lamb…
Following those runs, the Sandrider moved to Château de Lastours, in France, where they were able to test the bulging BF Goodrich off-road racing tyres on some rugged and rocky terrain.
Famous rally stages
The duties of testing the Sandrider was split between the team’s drivers. Cristina Gutiérrez kicked off the testing in Wales, saying: “Having the opportunity to see the Dacia Sandrider in action and cover my first kilometres in the car has been incredible. I am feeling very comfortable in the car, adapting to a new type of car and a new category for me. There are still many important test days ahead, but in general we are super-happy with the work of the team. We cannot ask for more. It is the general feeling to be very proud of the car's performance in these first tests.”
Gutiérrez handed testing over to legendary multiple World Rally Champion Sebastian Loeb, who said: “The testing has gone very well. I did one day in the UK and two days in France. We worked on the suspension and the diff to find a good balance with the car and I was really happy with how it worked. The engine was working well since the start and we didn’t have any problem with the car. Based on the experience of a brand-new car it’s looking really good and I look forward to continue the testing in Morocco.”
Loeb’s efforts were followed by Nasser Al-Attiyah, himself also a legend of racing, and a multiple Dakar winner. “The test in Château de Lastours was the first time for me to jump in the Dacia Sandrider. I found it easy to drive, fast and strong. We did 270 kilometres on the first day and the same on the second day. There were no issues and we enjoyed it a lot. We are in a good way for the next tests and I can’t wait to get to Morocco,” said Al-Attiyah.
On to Morocco
Team boss Tiphanie Isnard confirmed that the initial tests had gone well and that no major issues had been found with the Sandrider, which uses a V6 twin-turbo petrol engine. Next up will be some proper gruelling (yes, of course…) testing miles in Morocco. The next Dakar Rally won’t kick off until the 3rd of January, but when it comes to the most testing off-road racing event of them all, prep can never start too soon.
“We have completed a series of initial tests before we go for our first test in a real rally-raid environment in Morocco. So far everything has gone astonishingly smoothly with no serious problems. We’ve managed to sign off all the basic things in terms of the engine, we’ve done quite a lot more work than we expected to do on the suspension set-up and the transmission settings have been reviewed in terms of the differentials. The suspension had a real good going over not just during the test at Sweet Lamb but very much so in the test at Château de Lastours. Now, we’ve got a lot of work cleaning up a lot of the details putting the car into a state that is ready to go on a rally. We managed to highlight one or two problems in terms of the crew’s installation inside the car that we want to make some improvements and they should also be in place before we do the tests in Morocco. Everything is looking really positive, only a couple of very minor things that we were able to work on quite quickly. Now everybody is working flat out preparing everything for Morocco and we are very much looking forward to continuing our Dakar preparations there,” said Philip Dunabin, the team’s technical director.