Nasser Al-Attiyah has won the first rally with the new Dacia Sandrider and is coming to the Dakar as world champion – his co-driver is also new this year
Last year’s Dakar Rally did not go to Nasser Al-Attiyah’s taste. After various technical problems with the Prodrive Hunter, the five-time overall winner left the rally in frustration. It was his first retirement since 2017.
Nevertheless, the situation was smoothed over. Al-Attiyah contested the rest of the World Rally Raid Championship season with the Hunter. He won the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge and the Portugal Rally.
At the Desafio Ruta 40 in Argentina, Al-Attiyah was narrowly beaten by the Toyota of Yazeed Al-Rajhi and Timo Gottschalk. That was also the last rally for the Prodrive Hunter for the time being.
During the year, Al-Attiyah did some test driving with the new Dacia Sandrider. At the Morocco Rally, the first race in the car was a complete success. Al-Attiyah won ahead of his teammate, Sebastien Loeb.
With this result, the 54-year-old also crowned himself Rally Raid World Champion for the third time in a row. “Victory in Morocco and this world championship title in the first race with Dacia! We really couldn’t have dreamt of a better outcome,” says Al-Attiyah happily.
“The 2024 season was not necessarily easy after we withdrew from the Dakar. We have now corrected that. I am very happy with our performance. We will continue to develop the Sandrider so that we can reach the top at the Dakar.”
Al-Attiyah’s goal in Saudi Arabia is clear: “We will try to win in the first year. I’m happy to be part of the Dacia family. We seem to be on the right track.”
“There are just a few minor details to be ironed out before we can move on to the next phase. The Morocco Rally was a pleasant surprise, even for me, because it was the first time we competed in the Sandrider.”
“The car is working very well. We had the opportunity to come to Morocco three times for tests. We are trying to gather as much information as possible so that we can do everything right at the Dakar.”
Boulanger moves from Peterhansel to Al-Attiyah
For Al-Attiyah, not only the car is new, but also the co-driver. After the last Dakar, he parted ways with Mathieu Baumel. They had worked together for the past ten years.
Al-Attiyah has achieved four of his five Dakar victories with Baumel. Edouard Boulanger is now his new co-driver. The Frenchman has worked with Stephane Peterhansel in recent years and celebrated overall victory in 2021.
The past few months have shown that the new partnership works extremely well. Boulanger has been acting as a navigator for Al-Attiyah since the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge. “It’s not a new chapter, but a new book that has been opened for me this year.“
”Changing the team, the driver, the car, the environment and the language was no easy task,” says Boulanger. He spoke French with Peterhansel in the cockpit, while he now communicates in English.
“The culture is also different, because a Qatari has nothing in common with a Frenchman when it comes to their way of life and history,” laughs Boulanger. ”I had to reorient myself and start from scratch.”
“I experienced a lot of emotions this year, but I only have good memories of them. The world title is the crowning glory of a great season with Nasser. It wasn’t an easy season, even if on paper we didn’t make any mistakes, neither Nasser nor I.”
“The competition was fierce, with Sainz, De Mevius, Moraes and Al-Rajhi. It was intense! It’s fantastic to start the Dacia adventure in this way. It gives the team a real boost for the coming months. But it doesn’t matter that we won in Morocco. The Dakar is still an extremely long and demanding event.”
