Rally-Raid Portugal 2026: Dacia Sandriders Lead Charge
The Dacia Sandriders head to Rally-Raid Portugal 2026 next week, from 17 to 22 March, at the top of the world after an outstanding Dakar Rally victory earlier this year. The team tackled international motorsport’s toughest event for only the second time and finished first, fourth, seventh and 11th after two intense weeks in the desert in January.
Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin delivered a landmark win for Dacia and moved into the lead of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship for drivers and navigators. Their result also pushed The Dacia Sandriders to the top of the manufacturers’ standings. After fielding four crews on the Dakar Rally, the team now takes three cars to Rally-Raid Portugal, which offers a much shorter challenge than the season opener in Saudi Arabia.
Al-Attiyah and Lurquin will line up alongside Sébastien Loeb and Édouard Boulanger, plus Lucas Moraes and Dennis Zenz. Rally-Raid Portugal gives The Dacia Sandriders strong reasons for confidence. Loeb and Boulanger finished on the podium when the event last ran in September 2025. Moraes took third place in Portugal with his previous team two years earlier, then went on to claim his first W2RC victory there last season. That result proved crucial to the Brazilian’s title success in Morocco the following month before he joined The Dacia Sandriders. Al-Attiyah won the inaugural Rally-Raid Portugal in 2024, with Boulanger as his navigator.
The W2RC will introduce a new Stage 1 starting order in 2026. Championship positions, rather than Prologue results, will now decide the order. The series has adopted that change under the new W2RC sporting regulations for 2026. As a result, Al-Attiyah and Lurquin will open the road for their rivals in Portugal. The three Dacia Sandrider cars competing in Rally-Raid Portugal 2026 will run on ARAMCO sustainable fuel and BFGoodrich tyres.
Tiphanie Isnard, Team Principal, has worked flat out to prepare the team for round two of the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship after overseeing its standout Dakar success. She said: “After a Dakar that fully met our objectives, we approach this European round of the W2RC with a clear ambition: to consolidate our leading positions in the world championship standings.
That said, we remain humble. The terrain our Dacia Sandrider cars will encounter during Rally-Raid Portugal will be challenging, with waterlogged ground from recent heavy rainfall and an early-spring event very different from last year’s autumn edition. We have worked extensively to address the brake issues experienced in Portugal last season. However, we know this will be a completely different challenge, demanding and potentially unpredictable. Our crews are looking forward to being back together, as is the entire team. We will rely on our strong mindset, our collective standards and our determination to approach each race as a truly exceptional chapter in our journey.”
Organised by Automóvel Club de Portugal, Rally-Raid Portugal joined the W2RC calendar in 2024 and returns for its third edition this March, six months after the second running, which served as the penultimate round of the 2025 season. The 2026 route includes stages in Portugal and neighbouring Spain, and the organisers have overhauled the itinerary. Grândola will host the start and the opening stage, while Badajoz in Spain’s Extremadura region remains a key stop. This year, however, the event will finish in Loulé in the Algarve instead of Lisbon.
Stage 1 will include more sandy sections than last September. Stage 2 will take the rally from Portugal into Spain and cover completely new ground. Stage 3 around Badajoz and the first part of Stage 4 will mirror elements of the 2025 route as the action returns to Portugal. The second part of Stage 4 and Stage 5 will introduce new sections, while the final day will draw inspiration from the route used for the 2006 Dakar Rally, which started in Portugal. Event organisers say crews will face hard ground across hills rather than flat plains. The rally will finish in the calm setting of Vilamoura Marina near Faro. Compared with the Dakar Rally, the stages will run more narrowly. The shift from autumn to spring will also shape conditions, especially after recent heavy rainfall.
Édouard Boulanger believes Rally-Raid Portugal 2026 will represent a real step into the unknown due to the route changes and the move from autumn to spring. Boulanger said: “Rally-Raid Portugal is always one of the nicest moments of the racing calendar due to the fans and the organisation, which are always making great efforts to offer us a spectacular route, with amazing landscapes and with all the fans cheering for us. It’s the closest event to our homes, a five-star moment during the season. As a navigator, we are always looking for new routes. Each time we have the opportunity to discover a new region, we obviously have a big smile on our faces because it’s part of the DNA of rally-raid events. This time we are going to explore a new region, and it’s definitely one of the things we like about this sport.”
Al-Attiyah said, “After a great Dakar Rally victory, staying in the lead of the world championship is our next focus. It won’t be easy because the competition is very tough, and Rally-Raid Portugal presents many challenges, including route changes. The time of year will also make a difference, as we can expect wetter ground compared to the dry conditions we experienced when the event took place in September. But we have a great team, and the Dacia Sandrider is a very strong car.” Loeb added, “I’m always happy to be back competing in Portugal, and it’s a rally I really enjoy. You have to push and be on the pace right from the start of the event. It’s less about endurance and race management than the Dakar was, and more about precision. The stages are narrow for cars like ours, which makes it technically demanding but very interesting from a driving perspective.” Moraes said, “I’m happy to get back in the car, and I can’t wait to see the whole team again. Of course, Portugal is very special to me; it’s where I took my first overall victory in my career last year, and it's a very special country because, coming from Brazil, we speak the same language. The fans are usually really nice. Last year was a very important race for us, and I hope we can defend our win. We go for a full attack for sure and try to score some points and climb the championship standings a little more.”
The Dacia Sandriders will field car #299 for Nasser Al-Attiyah of Qatar and Fabian Lurquin of Belgium, car #219 for Sébastien Loeb and Édouard Boulanger of France, and car #233 for Lucas Moraes of Brazil and Dennis Zenz of Germany. Rally-Raid Portugal 2026 starts in Grândola, Portugal, on 17 March and finishes in Loulé, Portugal, on 22 March. The event includes five stages, with 1,320 kilometres of timed competition and a total distance of 2,175 kilometres. After its Dakar Rally victory, the Dacia Sandriders lead the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship for Manufacturers by 33 points.
