Dacia Does the Impossible: Al-Attiyah Wins the 2026 Dakar
On only its second attempt, Dacia has won the Dakar Rally. Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin took the Sandrider to overall victory in January: the Qatari's sixth Dakar win and the Romanian brand's first.
The Dakar Rally does not give debutants much encouragement. The 2026 edition, the 48th running, sent its field across some 8,000 kilometres of Saudi Arabia from 3 to 17 January, with more than 5,000 kilometres of timed special stages. When it ended, the overall winners were Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Fabian Lurquin in the Dacia Sandrider. It was Dacia's first Dakar victory, achieved on only the brand's second attempt. It was Al-Attiyah's sixth, drawing him closer to Stephane Peterhansel's all-time record.
For a brand that sells simplicity, there is no better advertisement than surviving, and winning, the Dakar.
How the win was built
The Sandrider made its competitive debut at the 2024 Rallye du Maroc, which Al-Attiyah won, and contested the 2025 Dakar with three cars, Al-Attiyah finishing fourth. For 2026, the team returned with Al-Attiyah, nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb, Lucas Moraes and Cristina Gutierrez. Ten different drivers from five manufacturers won stages in a volatile rally, but Al-Attiyah took the lead after stage six and, after briefly dropping to third, reclaimed it after stage ten with a twelve-minute advantage he would not surrender. Loeb finished fourth, Moraes seventh and Gutierrez eleventh: all four Sandriders classified.
What the Sandrider is
The Sandrider competes in the T1+ prototype class: a tubular-framed, purpose-built rally-raid machine with permanent four-wheel drive, a sequential six-speed gearbox, 37-inch BFGoodrich tyres and 350 mm of suspension travel. It is not a road car in a costume. It is a clean-sheet competition car wearing Dacia's name, built to win the world's toughest rally.
The analysis: the value-fighter grows teeth
Dacia built its reputation on honest, inexpensive cars. Winning the Dakar on the second attempt reframes the brand entirely: this is now a manufacturer with overall victories in the world's most gruelling motorsport event. The Sandrider even traded the desert for the Goodwood hill in June, with Loeb at the wheel at the Festival of Speed. For a brand that sells simplicity, there is no better advertisement than surviving, and winning, the Dakar.
