Sébastien Loeb: The outcome of Dakar could be anything.

      In January last year the Dacia Sandriders team took the start of the supermarathon in Saudi Arabia for the first time, competing in the latest Sandrider T1+ off‑road prototypes built by the British company Prodrive. Naturally, with the support of Dacia, the Romanian division of the Renault group.

      When a car is brand new, the likelihood that it will withstand competition from the proven equipment of other teams is small; nevertheless, a year ago Nasser Al‑Attiyah finished 4th overall and won one of the stages. In 2026 he and his teammates, among them the legendary rally driver Sébastien Loeb, intend to fight for victory.

      They are bolstered by the experience gained in 2025 and the numerous improvements made to the Dacia Sandrider's design. In addition, the team has a new addition: one of its four off‑road vehicles is now piloted by Brazilian Lucas Moraes, the reigning world rally‑raid champion who previously raced for Toyota's factory team.

      Al‑Attiyah has taken part in such supermarathons 21 times and won five of them; Loeb has so far been unable to add a Dakar victory to his nine WRC championship titles, which only makes him more eager to rectify that omission. Moreover, last October he won the Rallye du Maroc — the final round of the world rally‑raid championship held in Morocco, which can be regarded as a dress rehearsal for the Dakar.

      The Dacia Sandrider was upgraded this year, becoming lighter and more reliable; its 360‑horsepower engine, based on a 3‑liter Nissan V6 with twin turbos, has gained in efficiency, and the drivers are now more comfortable behind the wheel.

      “This year we have a pretty good car,” Loeb confirmed. “The team has become more experienced, because last year when we started we didn't have much confidence in our chances, and during the rally‑raid we had to sort out a lot of different nuances. The car was completely new, but now we know its characteristics and all the technical aspects better.

      Overall, in recent races we had no questions about its drivability, although that's only one aspect. On the other hand, Dakar is Dakar, and we know how difficult it is to put everything together and cope perfectly with everything over the full two weeks.

      In the last races I felt quite comfortable behind the wheel, things went well, I was able to maintain the right pace and attack at the necessary moments. Nevertheless, even though we won in Morocco, our advantage was minimal, which shows how strong our rivals are.

      Speaking about Dakar, many think that here you just need to choose the right moment to attack, but in Morocco everyone attacked at the limit and finished the race with roughly the same times. In general, the outcome of Dakar can be anything.”

      Since 2016 Sébastien Loeb has started the Dakar rally‑raid nine times and finished second three times, but last year he failed to reach the finish due to a crash.