Dacia enters the world of rally-raid with a bold and ambitious project: the Sandrider. This prototype, inspired by the Manifesto concept car, is designed to compete in the Ultimate T1+ category of the Dakar Rally and the World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) from 2025.
The Sandrider is a result of a collaboration between Dacia, Renault Group, and Prodrive, a British company specializing in motorsports. It combines Dacia's essentialist philosophy with its partners' expertise and innovation. The Dacia aims to create a vehicle that can perform well on the toughest terrains while being affordable and environmentally friendly.
What is the Dakar Rally and the W2RC?
The Dakar Rally is the most famous and challenging off-road race in the world. It started in 1978 as a rally from Paris to Dakar, Senegal, crossing the Sahara desert. Since then, it has evolved and moved to different locations, such as South America and Saudi Arabia. The Dakar Rally is open to amateurs and professionals who compete in different categories of vehicles, such as cars, bikes, trucks, quads, and SSVs. The race consists of one stage per day, with at least one timed special section, where the competitors have to follow a course marked by waypoints. The total distance covered is several thousand kilometers, and the race lasts for about two weeks.
The World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) is a new series co-sanctioned by the FIA and FIM and promoted by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the same organizer of the Dakar Rally. The W2RC aims to unify the existing cross-country rallies into a single world championship, with five rounds in different continents. The W2RC follows the same format and rules as the Dakar Rally but with shorter distances and durations. The W2RC started in 2022, with the Dakar Rally being the first round of the season.
What is the Ultimate T1+ category?
The Ultimate T1+ category is the top class for rally raid vehicles. It allows for more freedom and creativity in the design and construction of the vehicles compared to the other categories. The vehicles in this category are prototype cross-country cars with four-wheel drive, a minimum weight of 1,800 kg, and a maximum engine capacity of 3.5 liters. The vehicles can use any type of fuel, including synthetic fuel, which is a sustainable alternative to fossil fuels. The Ultimate T1+ category attracts some of the most prestigious and competitive teams and drivers in the rally raid scene, such as Audi, Toyota, Mini, Nasser Al-Attiyah, Carlos Sainz, and Sebastien Loeb.