THE DACIA SANDRIDERS ENTERS THE PODIUM PURSUIT

With just Friday’s deciding 340 timed kilometres remaining, Al-Attiyah and navigator Lurquin are a mere seven seconds adrift of first place for The Dacia Sandriders, which has won the opening two rounds of the FIA World Rally Championship (W2RC) season and stands to make it a hat-trick of victories in Argentina, where it’s competing for the first time.

Sébastien Loeb and Édouard Boulanger remain in contention for a podium finish in fourth overall after the world championship leaders completed Thursday’s penultimate stage with the fourth quickest time behind team-mates Al-Attiyah/Lurquin, who were third quickest. Loeb/Boulanger would have been closer to the stage-setting pace but were delayed by an enforced wheel change and two tyre deflations.

As Desafío Ruta 40 headed back from San Rafael to San Juan via the Andes mountains, reigning world champion Lucas Moraes and navigator Dennis Zenz had been hoping for a change of fortune in the third sustainable-fuelled Dacia Sandrider after an event full of frustration.

Instead, three damaged tyres in the space of 60 kilometres held them back to the extent they could only manage the 19th fastest time. Having restarted today after they retired with rear suspension damage on Stage 3 yesterday, Moraes/Zenz were the quickest crew at one point before problems set in.

Following victory on January’s Dakar Rally and Rally-Raid Portugal in March, The Dacia Sandriders is firmly in contention for a third consecutive FIA World Rally-Raid Championship win in 2026 and a fourth in a row after it finished first on last season’s Rallye du Maroc finale. But a typically demanding stage over a timed distance of 340 kilometres must first be overcome.

KEY QUOTES

NASSER AL-ATTIYAH (QATAR), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS

Absolutely it will be an interesting stage tomorrow, a fight between the top three cars. But, okay, there’s still a long way and it’s not easy and we need to bring everything home with good points for the championship, but I will go tomorrow to win the race. The stage was not easy today. We had a lot of altitude, it was a mix of everything but we did a good job today and I’m so happy. We need to be clever tomorrow because everything can happen, it’s a 340-kilometstage and we need to do our best. We try to change something in the car to be more comfortable because it will be like day one where we start and at least we know what we need tomorrow.

SÉBASTIEN LOEB (FRANCE), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS

The stage was not so nice. There were a lot of stones, it was very rough with a lot of big stones in some rivers. It was not really interesting to drive. Overall, we did a good stage, I think. We had one puncture, and we had to change one wheel. For the rest it was okay. The roads were really narrow compared to our Dacia Sandrider and a lot of places where we just had to try to go through. It was not the most exciting one.

LUCAS MORAES (BRAZIL), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS

It was a proper Dakar stage today. We managed to do quite well until halfway, I think we were leading the stage so I was happy with the pace. But, really suddenly – we didn’t touch anything specifically or on the side – but some slow punctures started to happen, three in a row in the space of 60 kilometres, so a tough day. But at least we managed to finish, and Dennis did a good job on fixing one of the tyres, so we managed to finish still with some pressure in the third one. But we have to try tomorrow again. We are here to help Seb and Nasser, and we’ll see how the team wants to handle the strategy tomorrow. We will try to go for the stage win, but let’s see.

FABIAN LURQUIN (BELGIUM), NAVIGATOR, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS

It was a good day today, clean day, no puncture, no mistake whatsoever. It was difficult to find a good rhythm because we didn’t see anyone until the neutralisation. My feeling was that we were a little bit slow and eventually we were not slow, as usual Nasser was fast, so a good day but let’s see tomorrow.

DESAFÍO RUTA 40 STAGE 4 RESULTS (UNOFFICIAL)

San Rafael-San Juan

Stage distance: 306km Liaison distance: 341km Total distance: 647km

3 Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL), 3h36m08s

4 Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Édouard Boulanger (FRA), 3h38m44s

19 Lucas Moraes (BRA)/Dennis Zenz (GER), 4h15m57s

DESAFÍO RUTA 40 ULTIMATE CATEGORY OVERALL RESULTS AFTER STAGE 4 (UNOFFICIAL)

2 Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL), +07s

5 Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Édouard Boulanger (FRA), +5m24s

21 Lucas Moraes (BRA)/Dennis Zenz (GER), +20h29m52s

DESAFÍO RUTA 40: THE BIG NUMBER

3110: Stage 4 of Desafío Ruta 40 reached an altitude of 3110 metres as it brought crews back from San Rafael to San Juan via the Andes mountains.

THE DAY AHEAD: STAGE 5, MAY 29

There’s more altitude and riverbeds to overcome on the fifth and final stage on Desafío Ruta 40 on roads more akin to World Rally Championship-style tests. The podium and prize giving ceremony take place at the Teatro Bicentenario in San Juan following a hugely demanding first appearance in Argentina for The Dacia Sandriders.

Stage distance: 340km Liaison distance: 233km Total distance: 573km

MORE INFORMATION

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