Dacia: With e-Fuel to the Dakar
FUTURE In two years, Dacia will compete in the World Rally Raid Championship racing series using synthetic fuel from Aramco. The highlight of the racing calendar is participation in the legendary Dakar Rally.
As part of the factory deployment of the rally car, Dacia draws on its own technical expertise, and also on the British motorsport and engineering company Prodrive for the development for the T1+ category. Dacia's race cars run on synthetic fuel. Nine-time French rally world champion Sébastien Loeb and Spanish rally driver Cristina Gutiérrez Herrero will also officially drive for Dacia during the 2024 test phase.
Test of endurance and robustness
Dacia will participate as a manufacturer in the World Rally Raid Championship in the T1+ vehicle category from 2025 as part of the factory entry. The highlight of the racing series is the Dakar Rally, which is regarded as the ultimate test of endurance and robustness for man and material (see gallery). The Dakar is a motorsport adventure that has brought together more than 60 nationalities and 500 racers in a unique competition every year for a good 40 years.
More than 5000 kilometers distance
The extreme conditions over the distance of more than 5,000 kilometers at the Dakar Rally place enormous stress on the material, making robust technology essential. The technical focus of the rally prototypes with all-wheel drive will be on the essentials, just as it is for the road vehicles. In addition, the use of synthetic fuel from Aramco shows that motorsport commitment can also be implemented in an environmentally conscious manner.
Experienced driver duo at the start
Prodrive has been competing in the World Rally Raid Championship race series and the Dakar Rally with its own racing vehicles since 2020. In 2022 and 2023, the company finished second overall with Sébastien Loeb, who is now part of the new Dacia team.
Rally driver Cristina Gutierrez Herrero is the first Spanish woman to finish the Dakar Rally. The 31-year-old has already competed in seven Dakar rallies between 2017 and 2023, and the 49-year-old Loeb won the FIA Rally World Championship nine times in a row from 2004 to 2012.
