Sandrider is Dacia’s debut entry into the Dakar Rally
Insiders see the famed rally raid as the ‘perfect fit’ for the Renault brand’s hardy new image
Dacia is open to creating limited-series Dakar versions of its road cars off the back of its inaugural entry into the world’s most famous rally.
The Dacia Sandrider, a rally buggy inspired by the Manifesto concept car, will compete in next month’s Dakar Rally as part of the wider World Rally-Raid Championship.
Dacia CEO Denis Le Vot said the main purpose was to present a “robust” image of the brand’s cars, but he said he was open to using it for a more direct link to its models too.
“Maybe we can use a taste and feel of the Dakar car on some limited series or whatever, but we will see,” he said.
Le Vot said the Dakar Rally was the perfect fit for Dacia as it was so “close to the image that we want to project, in terms of freedom and a robust outdoor projection”.
“This is known by the people that drive our cars and potentially, I hope, [will] attract the interest of the people that haven’t yet tested our cars.”
Dacia has ended all other sponsorships in its markets to focus all its brand efforts on the Dakar project, according to Le Vot.
The Sandrider team is being run by famed British motorsport engineering firm Prodrive.
The buggy uses a twin-turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 engine sourced from Nissan, which runs on synthetic fuels.
It has been designed and created with the same no-frills yet resourceful approach of Dacia’s road cars, using only an essential amount of bodywork and equipment, with features including a magnetic strip on the side of the car to attach nuts and bolts to while crews are changing wheels.
Nine-time World Rally Championship winner Sébastien Loeb and five-time Dakar Rally winner Nasser Al-Attiyah are among the firm’s drivers.
They were integrated into the Sandrider’s development from the start, most notably in areas such as cockpit design.
