Dacia Sandrider review: what is Dakar's 2026 winning rally raid car?
The Dacia Sandrider is a Dakar Rally–winning rally raid car developed by Dacia in partnership with Prodrive to compete at the very highest level of desert endurance motorsport.
This review is based on first-hand access, passenger ride impressions, and technical explanations gathered during filming in Spain with the Dacia World Rally Raid team. It also uses the road-going Dacia Duster to show the everyday end of Dacia’s off-road spectrum.
Reviewed by Vicki Butler-Henderson – a professional racing driver with extensive experience in motorsport and automotive journalism. Vicki brings decades of high-performance driving expertise to this assessment.
What is the Dacia Sandrider?
The Dacia Sandrider is not derived from a production road car. It is a purpose-built rally raid machine designed specifically for long-distance endurance competition in the World Rally Raid Championship.
Developed with Prodrive, the Sandrider prioritises durability, serviceability, and consistency over outright speed. Every component exists for a reason. During filming, the team explained that the car runs bare carbon bodywork with no paint, because paint adds unnecessary weight that offers no performance benefit in rally raid.
Dacia fields the Sandrider with a factory-backed programme and a top-tier driver line-up including Sebastien Loeb, Cristina Gutierrez Herrero, and Nasser Al Attiyah.
Dacia Sandrider: key technical facts
| Specification | Detail |
|---|---|
| Competition Class | FIA World Rally Raid Championship (Ultimate) |
| Engine | 3.0-litre V6 twin-turbo |
| Power | approximately 400hp |
| Torque | approximately 539Nm |
| Drivetrain | four-wheel drive |
| Weight | approximately 2.5 tonnes (competition specification) |
| Tyres | 37-inch BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KDR3 |
| Developed with | Prodrive |
What is rally raid?
Rally raid is an endurance form of off-road rallying that takes place over extreme distances and terrain, including deserts, sand dunes, and rocky tracks. Events typically run for several days, sometimes up to two weeks, and test not just speed but reliability, navigation, and mechanical sympathy.
The World Rally Raid Championship, commonly referred to as W2RC, is governed by the FIA and represents the highest level of competition in the discipline. Dakar sits at the very top of this calendar in terms of difficulty and scale.
A line used during off-road instruction in the review neatly sums up the discipline: go as slow as possible, but as fast as necessary.
Source: World Rally Raid Championship (W2RC)
What is the Dakar Rally, and why does it matter?
The Dakar Rally is the most demanding event in rally raid. It runs over vast distances and multiple days, combining competitive stages with long liaison sections that can leave crews inside the car for entire days at a time.
Dakar is widely regarded as the ultimate proving ground for rally raid machinery. Cars must survive heat, sand, impacts, and fatigue while remaining fast enough to compete at the front. Success at Dakar is a benchmark for both engineering and team execution.
In 2026, the Dakar Rally was won in the top-level car category by Dacia, with Nasser Al-Attiyah and co-driver Fabian Lurquin taking overall victory in the Sandrider. This marked Dacia’s first Dakar Rally win and confirmed the Sandrider as a genuine front-running rally raid car.
Source: Dakar Rally Official Results, FIA World Rally Raid Championship
Who is Nasser Al Attiyah?
Nasser Al Attiyah is one of the most successful drivers in modern rally raid. He is a multiple-time Dakar Rally winner and a three-time World Rally Raid Champion, widely regarded as one of the discipline’s defining figures.
During filming, he spoke about the physical and mental demands of rally raid, including spending four to five hours at the limit and the intense pressure of tyre changes, where heart rate spikes as crews wrestle with extremely heavy wheels under time pressure.
What engine does the Dacia Sandrider use?
The Sandrider is powered by a competition-specification 3.0-litre V6 twin-turbo engine producing 400 horsepower and 539Nm of torque.
The engine’s role is purely to deliver power. Ancillary systems such as the alternator and power steering are removed and instead powered by a separate 48-volt electrical system. This allows the drivetrain to focus on low-down torque delivery, which is critical for climbing dunes and maintaining momentum in deep sand.
Top speed is deliberately limited compared to circuit racing cars, as control and reliability are far more important than outright velocity in rally raid conditions.
Sustainable fuel and development relevance
The Sandrider runs on sustainable fuel developed in collaboration with Aramco. According to the team, this fuel delivers performance comparable to conventional petrol while significantly reducing environmental impact.
This reflects a broader Dacia philosophy of using motorsport as a development platform, not just for vehicles, but also for fuels, lubricants, and efficiency concepts that could influence future road cars.
What tyres does the Dacia Sandrider use?
The Sandrider runs on 37-inch BFGoodrich All Terrain T/A KDR3 tyres, developed specifically for rally raid and extreme sand conditions.
These tyres feature reinforced sidewalls, a tread pattern optimised for loose surfaces, and construction designed to resist punctures and heavy impacts. During filming, the team explained that tyre life varies dramatically depending on terrain, with hard surfaces wearing tyres far faster than desert dunes.
Tyre development in rally raid is always a compromise between durability, grip, and adaptability to constantly changing conditions.
The hidden challenge: rally raid logistics
One of the most eye-opening aspects of the Sandrider programme is logistics. Competing in the World Rally Raid Championship requires fleets of trucks, support vehicles, and spare cars moving across continents for much of the year.
The team described shipping cars from Barcelona to Saudi Arabia for Dakar, then travelling onwards to Abu Dhabi, South Africa, Portugal, and Morocco before finally returning to the UK. Much of the equipment remains on the road for nearly a full season without coming home.
In rally raid, racing is only half the challenge. Logistics is the other half.
Where does the Dacia Duster fit in?
This review deliberately contrasts the Sandrider with the latest Dacia Duster to show the breadth of the brand.
Vicki highlights the Duster’s affordability, practicality, and genuine off-road features, including selectable drive modes, hill descent control, strong visibility, and driver assistance tools designed to make off-road driving accessible to non-experts.
The message is clear: the same robust, functional ethos that underpins the Sandrider also influences Dacia’s road cars, translated into everyday usability.
Dakar Rally and Dacia Sandrider FAQs
Q1. What car won the Dakar Rally in 2026?
The Dacia Sandrider won the 2026 Dakar Rally in the top-level car category, driven by Nasser Al-Attiyah with co-driver Fabian Lurquin.
Q2.How many times has Dacia won the Dakar Rally?
Once. The 2026 victory was Dacia's first overall win at the Dakar Rally.
Q3. Where is the Dakar Rally held?
The Dakar Rally has been held in Saudi Arabia since 2020, with stages running across deserts, dunes, and remote terrain.
Q4. What is rally raid?
Rally raid is an endurance form of off-road motorsport involving multi-day events over extreme terrain, combining speed, navigation, reliability, and logistics.
Q5. Who built the Dacia Sandrider?
The Dacia Sandrider was developed by Dacia in partnership with Prodrive, the UK-based motorsport specialist responsible for engineering and running the World Rally Raid programme, drawing on decades of experience across rallying, endurance racing, and off-road competition.
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