Innovation
Dacia’s 2026 Dakar-winning car has something in common with F2 and F3
by Samarth Kanal
7min read
The Dacia Sandriders made history with an overall victory in the 2026 Dakar Rally - and something surprising connects this gruelling offroad event to the FIA Formula 2 and Formula 3 championships…
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Veteran driver Nasser Al-Attiyah took his sixth overall win at the event and his first with Dacia, the Romanian marque that first competed in the event with the racing manufacturer Prodrive in 2025. With his 50th stage win, the Qatari equalled Ari Vatanen and Stephane Peterhansel for the joint record.
“Winning the Dakar takes everything: speed, reliability, and the right partners. Aramco’s FIA-compliant 100% sustainable fuel blend1 powered our Dacia Sandrider with the performance and consistency we needed to fight for the win,” said Al-Attiyah, who took victory with his co-driver Fabian Lurquin.
“The fact that we achieved this victory at the toughest rally in the world is a strong statement.” added Al-Attiyah.
1 Aramco’s FIA-compliant 100% sustainable fuel blend derived from ‘Advanced Sustainable’ components (as defined by the FIA) supplied by Aramco to World Rally championships is not ProForce+, which is Aramco’s FIA-compliant 100% sustainable fuel that is derived from ‘Advanced Sustainable’ components (as defined by the FIA) specifically designed and only available for the Aston Martin Aramco Formula One™ Team.
Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin stand atop the podium after the 2026 Dakar Rally
It’s not the fact that the Sandrider is a bespoke machine weighing in at just over 2,000 kilograms, with 37-inch offroad wheels connected to suspension dampers that have their own hydraulic fluid reservoirs.
It’s not the fact that the interior fabric of the Sandrider is treated to repel bacteria and coated in infrared material to avoid glaring reflections.
The steering wheel also features a flappy paddle that serves an unconventional purpose: activating the windscreen wipers, rather than changing gears..
It’s the Aramco fuel, a FIA-compliant 100% sustainable fuel blend that is derived from ‘Advanced Sustainable’ components (as defined by the FIA), that links the Dacia Sandrider to the FIA F2 and F3 cars. This fuel is very similar to that which powers the engines of all 52 F2 and F3 cars on the grid.
And it’s this fuel blend that helped Dacia achieve victory over a distance of 7,976 kilometres, 4,809 of them timed, over 13 days of unrelenting competition in Saudi Arabia. The Dacia Sandriders team claimed two stage wins and finished in the top three all but once over the two weeks.
The route took competitors from Yanbu in the west of Saudi Arabia to Riyadh in the centre of the country, and then Bisha in the south before looping back to Yanbu. A mix of rock-strewn tracks, sand dunes and fast open sections were among the terrains that riders, drivers, and navigators had to contend with.
The 2026 Dakar Rally route took drivers and riders across nearly 8,000km of terrain in Saudi Arabia
Nine-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb took the wheel of another Dacia Sandrider and finished fourth overall alongside co-driver Edouard Boulanger.
“This was a very tough Dakar, with difficult stages, a lot of stones and many competitive cars fighting for the smallest margins,” said Loeb, who came short of a Dakar podium finish by just 37 seconds.
“That shows that while Dakar remains an endurance race, performance has become just as crucial if you want to fight for the top spots. Throughout the rally, Aramco’s lower-carbon fuel blend gave our Dacia Sandrider the consistency needed to compete at the highest level."
The Frenchman was held back by numerous punctures during the event, but his fourth-place finish was a remarkable improvement on his 2025 Dakar entry, which ended with a crash on stage three.
Reigning World Rally-Raid champion Lucas Moraes competed with Dacia for the first time in 2026 and finished seventh overall, alongside co-driver Dennis Zenz.
All four Dacia Sandriders cars finished the 2026 Dakar Rally
Moraes said: “This Dakar was my first with The Dacia Sandriders, and I was amazed by how the car performed in all conditions against the toughest competition.
“Over such a long event, everything has to work together to deliver performance day after day. Racing with Aramco’s FIA-compliant 100% sustainable fuel blend, we proved that our Dacia Sandrider could fight at the same level as the best, even in extreme conditions.”
Moraes was in touching distance of sixth place overall by the final stage, but a speeding penalty hampered him in the closing stages.
All four Dacia Sandriders drivers finished the 2026 Dakar Rally, with Cristina Gutierrez taking 11th overall, alongside Pablo Moreno.
Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin reach the finish line of the 2026 Dakar Rally in the Dacia Sandrider
The result also marks a massive improvement for Gutierrez as she did not finish the 2025 event with Dacia due to a technical issue.
“This Dakar was long, demanding and full of challenges, and finishing 11th overall on such a difficult edition is something we can be proud of. Consistency and reliability were key, but performance also had to be there every single day," Gutierrez said.
“Using Aramco’s FIA-compliant 100% sustainable fuel blend, our Dacia Sandrider delivered exactly what we needed to stay competitive."
The hard work is far from over. Al-Attiyah might lead the 2026 World Rally-Raid Championship standings, following the Dakar win, as he hunts for his first title since 2022, however with five more rounds remaining in the season.
The action continues with the second round in Portugal from March 17-22, featuring the return of the Dacia Sandriders.
