The Dacia Sandriders team is celebrating its second FIA World Rally-Raid Championship top-three finish of the season – and its third in four attempts – following Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin’s runner-up placing on the South African Safari Rally.
And there was double reason for celebration in Sun City on Saturday afternoon (May 24) after Nasser Al-Attiyah and Édouard Boulanger claimed their second stage win of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) event, having also gone quickest on Thursday’s third stage.
Having only contested three desert-based W2RC rounds since its debut last October, The Dacia Sandriders, with its pair of sustainable-fuelled Sandrider cars, was challenged on varied terrain ranging from open savannah to narrow farmland tracks. But it passed the tough test with flying colours in second and 10th overall as the team maintained its challenge for the W2RC Driver, Navigator and Manufacturer titles.
After three W2RC rounds, Al-Attiyah and Boulanger are 20 points in front in the provisional Driver and Navigator rankings respectively with 114 points. Loeb and Lurquin are ninth on 40 points, while The Dacia Sandriders is second in Manufacturers’ table on 206 points.
How the final stage victory battle unfolded
Sébastien Loeb had completed Stage 4 on Friday 1m05s behind local hero Henk Lategan in the battle for the South African Safari Rally victory. But once event officials adjusted the times of a 2.5-kilometre section following a disputed note in the roadbook, the gap was trimmed to 39s with 111 timed kilometres remaining.
Having finished runner-up for The Dacia Sandriders on its debut event, last October’s Rallye du Maroc, Frenchman Loeb trailed Lategan by 43s at the 14-kilometre check. He was able to reduce that margin to 36s after 37 kilometres only for Lategan to edge clear by 1m03s at 58 kilometres. Although Loeb was able to narrow Lategan’s lead to 54s after 96 kilometres, second place was the end result after five days of intense action over 1197 competitive kilometres, with the top two separated by just 1m39s.
Al-Attiyah, meanwhile, overcame Ford Raptor driver Carlos Sainz’s early challenge to win Stage 5 for the 45th stage win of his W2RC career and the eighth for The Dacia Sandriders. The Qatari crossed the finish line a commanding 1m56s ahead of Toyota’s Lucas Moraes in the stage classification.
He would have challenged for the overall victory had he not been handed 17 minutes in penalties for inadvertently missing two waypoints earlier in the event.
“It was a good result for The Dacia Sandriders,” said Tiphanie Isnard, team principal of The Dacia Sandriders. “We met our objective to score points in the Manufacturers’ championship and keep the lead of the Drivers’ championship. It was the first time for us in South Africa, it was difficult terrain, completely different terrain from what we’ve faced from the beginning. To be in front of cars that were built here is a really good result and we are happy to be second with Sébastien and to score more points with Nasser. For sure we can be in a better place on the sporting side if we had a 1-2 but it’s just the third round of the season. Now we head back to the factory with more experience in the backpack. It’s a good result and I’m really proud of the team.”
Key quotes
NASSER AL-ATTIYAH (QATAR), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS
“It was a good experience and nice to here for the South African Safari Rally. We did an amazing job and tried to do our best. Finally we finish, we win two stages and score good points for the championship. Now we are leading by 20 points and this is very important. We also have scored good points for the team. We’d like to come back again to this race. We are happy to see Henk win his local rally, it’s good for the race. Of course, everybody is working for the championship, and we have two races left, Portugal and Morocco and we will try to do our best to win the championship.”
SÉBASTIEN LOEB (FRANCE), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS
“It’s our first year with the Dacia Sandrider and we always have to work because it’s a new car with things to optimise. This rally used completely different types of stages from the sand dunes we were used to before. It was more like WRC racing so it was important to have good agility from the car and good suspension. The feeling of the car was good, the fight was intense and I’m happy to finish on the podium. It’s only the second time I’ve come to South Africa, the only other time was in Cape Town for the World Rallycross and that was very different. I liked the atmosphere, we made a little safari on the first day to discover the place, we see the landscape in the road sections which is really beautiful, the stages were interesting and it was a pleasure to be here.”
The Dacia Sandriders: South African safari rally key moments
Stage 1 (Tuesday May 20): The Dacia Sandriders begins its first non-desert W2RC event with Nasser Al-Attiyah and Sébastien Loeb completing Stage 1 in the top five before a time penalty demotes Al-Attiyah. He finishes the opening 260 timed kilometres in fourth position but a two-minute penalty for missing a waypoint in the dusty conditions leaves him ninth overnight. After a delayed run through Monday’s Prologue due to a rare driving error, Loeb lines up for Stage 1 at the head of the pack and spends the day with the unenviable task of opening the road. Despite the hindrance, he goes fifth quickest before penalties for Al-Attiyah and Jayden Els, from the rival Red-Lined team, promotes him to third.
Stage 2 (Wednesday May 21): The halfway point of the South African Safari Rally’s Marathon Stage is reached but, despite being on pace, time penalties frustrate The Dacia Sandriders. Starting the event’s longest stage in ninth position, Nasser Al-Attiyah completes the 356 competitive kilometres with the fourth fastest time to move into the provisional lead. However, a 15-minute penalty for missing a waypoint drops him out of the fight for back-to-back W2RC victories. Running third on the road, Loeb is seventh overall at the Marathon Camp after he picks up a one-minute penalty for exceeding the speed limit in a controlled section.
Stage 3 (Thursday May 22): Nasser Al-Attiyah shrugs off the frustration of a 15-minute penalty with a flat-out charge to the quickest time on Stage 3, the seventh stage win for The Dacia Sandriders in the W2RC. While Al-Attiyah celebrates the 44th fastest stage time of his W2RC career, Sébastien Loeb fights through from seventh to lead by 23s with two days remaining. Having camped out overnight, Al-Attiyah and Loeb are back in the Sun City Bivouac with their colleagues from The Dacia Sandriders.
Stage 4 (Friday May 23): Sébastien Loeb battles through the penultimate stage a mere 1m05s off the lead having run third on the road for much of the day after Mathieu Serradori retires three kilometres from the stage start. Nasser Al-Attiyah is hamstrung by opening the road and drops more than nine minutes as he fights against a lack of grip and lines to follow. But while he drops time, he sets out from the Sun City Bivouac in the knowledge that the two-minute time penalty for over-speeding in a restricted section on Stage 3 has been rescinded. From 12th overnight, Al-Attiyah completes Stage 4 in 11th place.
Stage 5 (Saturday May 24): With the event organisers forced to adjust the times over a 2.5-kilometre section of Stage 4 due to a disputed note in the roadbook, the gap between Sébastien Loeb in second and South African driver Henk Lategan in first is a mere 39s as the final day begins. From ninth on the road Loeb battles hard through the deciding 111 timed kilometres and secures his first finish of the W2RC season in the runner-up spot. Starting Stage 5 from 17th on the road Nasser Al-Attiyah excels for his second stage win of the event, the eighth in the W2RC for The Dacia Sandriders and the 45th of Al-Attiyah’s W2RC career. Held in the rural outskirts of Sun City, Stage 5 was a high-speed loop to round out the W2RC’s first visit to South Africa. Described by organisers as “a short stage, but no walk in the park”, the route was made up sections on dirt, rocks, soil, savannah.
South African Safari Rally stage 5 results (unofficial)
Sun City-Sun City
Stage distance: 111km Liaison distance: 111km Total distance: 222km
1st: Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Édouard Boulanger (FRA), 1h08m49s
6th: Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL), 1h11m49s
South African Safari Rally provisional overall results after stage 5 (Unofficial)
2nd: Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL), +1m39s
10th: Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Édouard Boulanger (FRA), +11m48s
South African Safari Rally: The big number
3: The Dacia Sandriders has finished in the top three in four attempts in the W2RC having made its debut on last October’s Rallye du Maroc.
What’s next?
The BP Ultimate Rally Raid Portugal hosts round four of the 2025 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship with Europe’s W2RC event taking place from September 22-28.
