Dacia Sandrider testas inför Dakar Rallyt 2025

Dacia-teamet har slutfört sina inledande tester av Sandrider inför nästa års Dakarrally, den ultimata utmaningen inom motorsport som varumärket kommer delta i för första gången.

Dacia Sandrider-teamet har tillbringat fyra dagar på Sweet Lambs testanläggning i Wales, UK 6-9 maj. Efter det åkte man till Frankrike och Château de Lastours för ytterligare fyra dagars intensiva tester där förarna fick möjlighet att testa Sandrider som var utrustad med BF Goodrich-däck i en stenig och krävande terräng.

Cristina Gutiérrez satt bakom ratten på Sandrider i två dagar och avlöstes av Sébastian Loeb, den niofaldige världsmästaren i rally som tog över test- och utvecklingsuppgifterna. Flerfaldige Dakar-vinnaren Nasser Al-Attiyah fick testa bilen på Château de Lastours i två dagar. Även Loeb och Gutiérrez testade bilen i Frankrike.

Testerna har överträffat förväntningarna enligt Dacia Sandriders teamchef Tiphanie Isnard och få problem har rapporterats.

Inför nästa test som sker i Marocko den 28/6 - 5/7 pågår omfattande förberedelser. Då ska Sandrider testas i terräng som liknar den under Dakarrallyts öppningsrunda den 3-17 januari i Saudiarabien.

NASSER AL-ATTIYAH (QATAR), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS

“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.”

CRISTINA GUTIÉRREZ (SPAIN), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS

“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.”

SÉBASTIEN LOEB (FRANCE), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS

“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.”

PHILIP DUNABIN, TECHNICAL DIRECTOR, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS

“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.”