Dacia Sandriders Win Dakar Rally 2026 in Saudi Arabia
The Dacia Sandriders have won the 48th Dakar Rally, the toughest test of car and crew in international motorsport, with Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin delivering a memorable and imposing victory by almost 10 minutes.
The team secured an outstanding result in only its second appearance on the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship event. Dacia once again proved its expertise in designing and building robust, outdoor-ready vehicles, and the Dakar Rally win underlined that strength.
The Dacia Sandriders also celebrated a strong team performance as its other three crews reached the finish this afternoon. Sébastien Loeb and Édouard Boulanger returned to the final bivouac on the banks of the Red Sea in fourth position. Lucas Moraes and Dennis Zenz completed their first Dakar Rally with the team in seventh place. Cristina Gutiérrez and Pablo Moreno finished 11th overall after they started the final stage in 12th.
Across 13 days of intense and gruelling competition over 7,976 kilometres, including 4,809 kilometres against the clock, the Dacia Sandriders claimed two stage victories. They only dropped outside the top three overall positions once. The crew mastered the demanding Saudi Arabian stages, which combined undulating rock-strewn tracks, dunes, fast open sections and more. The drivers and navigators delivered the speed and precision. At the same time, the Dacia-designed Sandrider, along with the hard work, dedication and unwavering commitment of team members, partners and suppliers, played a decisive role.
Katrin Adt, Dacia CEO, said: “We did it! What an achievement, what an adventure, what a performance! Today is a historic moment and the proudest moment for the whole Dacia brand. It is the result of so much hard work by so many talented people, and it shows that The Dacia Sandrider, like our road cars, is reliable and robust.
“All the team members deserve this result, and they should be incredibly proud of what they have done, achieving victory so early on in Dacia’s Dakar journey.”
After their stage-winning heroics on Friday’s penultimate run, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin started the final stage of the 2026 Dakar Rally with a 16m02s lead. They tackled a 105-kilometre timed loop around Yanbu, where the event began with the Prologue on 3 January. The organisers highlighted careful cornering on gravel tracks through mountainous terrain, so Al-Attiyah and Lurquin drove with utmost caution and secured overall victory by 9m42s, despite setting the 36th quickest time on the stage.
Sébastien Loeb and Édouard Boulanger faced a different challenge. They started Stage 13 just 29 seconds off the podium and pushed hard in a bid to claim third place. They missed the Stage 13 win by eight seconds and fell short of what would have been Loeb’s sixth Dakar podium by 37 seconds. They battled several time-consuming delays during the event, and they earned a well-deserved fourth place through relentless effort.
Lucas Moraes, the defending world champion, began Stage 13 only 18 seconds behind sixth place in his first Dakar Rally for The Dacia Sandriders and his first event alongside navigator Dennis Zenz. They recorded the 16th quickest time after officials applied a one-minute speeding penalty. They still secured seventh overall, finishing 1m48s behind sixth place.
Cristina Gutiérrez and Pablo Moreno climbed from 12th to 11th overall after they posted the 10th-best time on the deciding stage.
Nasser Al-Attiyah has now won the Dakar Rally six times, including three victories in Saudi Arabia, which has hosted the event since 2020. He previously triumphed in 2011, 2015, 2019, 2022 and 2023. Fabian Lurquin claimed his first Dakar Rally win and became the first Belgian navigator to win in the car category. He arrived this year with three Dakar Rally podiums, after finishing second in 2022 and 2025, and third in 2024.
Tiphanie Isnard, Team Principal, The Dacia Sandriders, said: “We win the Dakar after the first full season of competing, so it’san excellentl result. Congratulations to everyone who made this incredible victory possible, especially to Nasser and Fabi, who performed so well from start to finish. The perfect performance. This victory was the result of outstanding teamwork and commitment for which I am so very proud. Hours and hours have been dedicated to this programme, so it’s just a big thanks to the whole team. Having all four of our cars finish inside the top eleven is really impressive and a testament to the efforts of our brilliant team.
“Victory is never something easy, but when you work hard and you are passionate, dreams can come true.”
Nasser Al-Attiyah, Driver, The Dacia Sandriders added: “To win this Dakar with our team, The Dacia Sandriders, is amazing. Really, I am so happy to win the Dakar six times in my career. Thanks to Fabian, I was so pleased to help him also, because he deserved to win the Dakar for the first time. The last stage was really very tricky because there awereea lot of things on my mind. But we did a good job; we took it easy, let two cases pass, and followed through. I feel really great.”
Fabian Lurquin, Navigator, continued: “I have been dreaming of this for 22 years and working on it for 22 years. My entire family has been in racing forever, so I bring home a nice trophy. I am somehow proud, but thrilled, that I make many people happy who support me. At the Dakar, I had the chance to go on the podium three times, but never on top. I would exchange 10 times the second place with the first one.”
The 2026 Dakar Rally provisional ultimate category overall results after Stage 13 showed Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT) and Fabian Lurquin (BEL) in first on 48h56m53s. Sébastien Loeb (FRA) and Édouard Boulanger (FRA) finished fourth at +15m10s. Lucas Moreas (BRA) and Dennis Zenz (GER) took seventh at +47m50s. Cristina Gutiérrez (ESP) and Pablo Moreno (ESP) placed 11th at +1h29m49s.
The big numbers from the Dakar Rally 2026 told the story of a landmark performance for Dacia in rally raid. Al-Attiyah secured a sixth Dakar Rally title, while Lurquin took his first victory. The Dacia Sandriders became a four-time winner in the World Rally-Raid Championship, and all four of the Dacia Sandriders’ crews finished inside the top 11 overall. Al-Attiyah also equalled the Dakar Rally stage-win record with 50 stage wins, as each crew covered 7,976 kilometres in total, including 4,809 kilometres against the clock.
