Introducing Dacia’s SandRider: A Dakar Triumph. Dacia will participate in the Dakar between 2025 and 2027, and the first two years will be the full raid season. Its drivers will be Sébastien Loeb, Nasser Al-Attiyah, and Cristina Gutiérrez.
By Laura King
The Dakar rally is probably the toughest of all those held in the world. And that is where legends like that of Peterhansel, the Peugeot 405 T16, or the Tatra trucks are forged.
With this year’s edition still fresh and with the good taste in our mouths of the victories of Sainz and Cristina Gutiérrez still in our palates, comes one of the first news of Dakar 2025: the entry into play of Dacia with a buggy.
They will do it for three years in a row in the T1+ category, although only during the first two will they do the full season, which in 2024 will consist (apart from the already completed Dakar) of the following events:
– Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (February 25-March 2)
– BP Ultimate Rally Raid (Portugal, April 2-7)
– Ruta 40 Challenge (Argentina, June 2-8)
– Morocco Rally (October 5-11)
For now, there are hardly any technical details regarding the engine of the so-called SandRider Project; they tell me that it is a V6 of Nissan origin with about 360 HP and that it is located in the central front position as required by the FIA, although they achieve a weight distribution of almost 50% on each axis.
What is known is its final shape, and it is just as you see in the photos. “A lot of people thought we were going to use the Duster Hunter,” David Durand, Dacia’s Head of Design, tells me. “In fact, I thought so too at one point. But then we saw that the Manifesto concept was a great fit.”
Being newbies, they approached Prodrive, who is going to make the car, with a bit of respect: “We want to do this,” they said. To which the coach, far from laughing, saw it favorably.
“The Dakar buggy is 120% larger,” Romain Gauvin, the head of Advanced Design at Dacia and the head responsible for the project, tells me. That means that it will be imposing, 2.30 meters wide, and also that it has very good off-road dimensions, with brutal angles, as you can see in the images.
The designers also wanted to provide the car with functionality. Along with its imposing aesthetics, practical details appear such as the additional front light, which is maintained from the concept, or the way to house the spare wheels.
It’s about making life easier for the team,” says the project manager. That is why everyday tasks must be made simple. “Also to save time. In this case, it’s not for if you click. It’s for when you click.” That’s why you can see that the tires are inclined with respect to the car.
There are also other details, such as magnetic body parts to hold tools: small details that make repairs easier. These are details that Kevin Bouvier, the person in charge of the exterior, has worked on over the last 12 months.
Virtual reality has been used extensively in the design, which has allowed them to move forward with the project much faster. It took us a year,” Gauvin tells me, although he also tells me that this does not mean that they have neglected other aspects.
For example, they have kept the bodywork with separate panels to facilitate repairability, one of their main objectives along with the efficiency of time to do things and the robustness of the car.
As for the interior, more of the same. During the presentation, they sit me in a kind of mock-up cabin and give me virtual reality glasses. It seems like I’m in the middle of the desert (but without heat and with a shirt and jeans) inside the cockpit.
A look around me makes me imagine for a few seconds that I am about to assault a huge dune. Visibility forward is quite good and the interior is surprisingly spacious. I see screens, indicators, cables…
They tell me some details, such as that the dashboard panels are modular so that each element can be configured to the pilot’s liking. For example, I’m seeing how Loeb, who is perhaps one of the most recognizable faces, is going to handle it, although he is flanked by more Dakar heavyweights.
The squad will be completed by Al-Attiyah and also by the Spanish pilot Cristina Gutiérrez. At Dacia, they assure that they have listened to them a lot because they are the ones who really know and the ones who are going to be behind the wheel when push comes to shove.
The Sandman project development team has taken advantage of the flexibility that the Manifesto concept gave them to introduce improvements to the car. For example, forward visibility has been worked on so that it is better upwards to face the dunes, and also downwards to descend them.
On the other hand, they wanted the car to be comfortable, always following FIA regulations. For example, the seats are easy to clean and breathable to combat the heat.
And precisely for that, for heat, a special resin has been used in the carbon fiber that repels infrared light and therefore reduces the interior temperature: “up to 35 degrees less,” the brand says.
Before leaving behind the studio where they present the Dacia Dacia to me, a couple more questions assail me: why Dacia and not Renault, Nissan, or Mitsubishi? David Durand answers me quickly, as if he had been waiting for that question.
“Dacia is the brand most associated with adventures and free time; it is closely related to nature.” And that’s why, he says, “there wasn’t much discussion.”
In a few months, we will see if all the effort has been worth it. I ask them what they expect from their performance in their first year. “We aspire to everything,” says Durand. That’s playing hard…”
