AL-ATTIYAH LEADS INTO FINAL DAY IN ABU DHABI FOR THE DACIA SANDRIDERS

The Dacia Sandriders heads into tomorrow’s final day of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge on course to win round two of the 2025 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship.

Restarting from the Marathon Camp in first place this morning, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Édouard Boulanger shrugged off being hampered by opening the road to complete the 300-kilometre Stage 4 with the third fastest time aboard their sustainable-fuelled Dacia Sandrider. But with their overall lead cut from 49 to 41 seconds, the stage is set for a thrilling – and tense – finale in the sand dunes tomorrow (Thursday).

Crucially, however, Al-Attiyah/Boulanger will follow their rivals through the final day, which could prove advantageous when negotiating the demanding terrain in store.

Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin reached the Marathon Camp last night in third position overall. They were fastest after 41 kilometres of action this morning but were soon in trouble when they narrowly missed a waypoint and rolled as they tried to recover.

Their Dacia Sandrider is being transported back to the bivouac in Mezeer’ah where an inspection by the FIA technical team will determine whether a restart is possible on the final day of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge tomorrow (Thursday).

Having gone second fastest on Stage 1 and quickest of all on Stage 2 to hold the provisional lead after two days, their early exit from Stage 4 represents poor reward for the Franco-Belgian pairing, who had been on course to claim their second W2RC podium for The Dacia Sandriders.

“For sure we are all disappointed for Seb and also for Fabian,” said Tiphanie Isnard, team principal of The Dacia Sandriders. “They were in the battle for the podium and it’s points lost for the championship, so it’s definitely not a good result. Meantime we know it’s not something stupid that Seb has done, the data was clear, he made a good job, a sensible drive but it’s always the case that a small mistake costs a lot. We have to discuss and analyse but again it was not something completely crazy that he’s done. Unfortunately, it’s his birthday today so we expected a big party when he came back to the bivouac after the stage but now it will be different for him.”

Isnard continued: “In the meantime, we will be so happy to welcome Nasser and Édouard, because yesterday they won the stage but we didn’t have the opportunity to congratulate them as they were at the Marathon Camp for the night. But now they are still leading after opening the stage. It was a difficult stage so it’s really good for tomorrow. We can be happy at the end of the day.

KEY QUOTES

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

“It was a good stage for us. We were careful because we made the job yesterday by taking a lot of time from everyone. To be the leader of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge is important but today we tried to control our lead because we open the road. In the last 50 kilometres there was no line and it was very difficult with a lot of wind, very dusty. But we are so happy to manage and come back to the bivouac with our Dacia Sandrider in a good condition. We will now check everything and get ready for tomorrow. It’s the final stage and I hope we can win for the team.”

SÉBASTIEN LOEB (FRANCE), DRIVER, THE DACIA SANDRIDERS

“This really wasn’t the birthday present I wanted. It all started when we missed a waypoint by less than 10 metres, which it looked like all our competitors had done in view of the lines we saw. We did a 360-degree turn for validation, but we were caught in our dust, missed a mini dune and rolled off the front. Our Dacia Sandrider will be brought back to the bivouac, but we’ll have to wait for the FIA inspection to see if we can start again tomorrow. It’s disappointing because the performance of the car and the job of the team have been really impressive. Even today’s stage was shaping up well for me and Fabian with a good pace from the start. Unfortunately, these things can happen but we will come back stronger and keep our fingers crossed for Nasser and Édouard.”

ABU DHABI DESERT CHALLENGE STAGE 4 RESULTS (UNOFFICIAL)

Marathon Camp-Mezeer’ah

Stage distance: 300 km / Liaison distance: 94 km / Total distance: 394 km

1st: Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Édouard Boulanger (FRA), 2h55m00s

DNF : Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL)

ABU DHABI DESERT CHALLENGE PROVISIONAL OVERALL RESULTS AFTER STAGE 4

(UNOFFICIAL)

1st: Nasser Al-Attiyah (QAT)/Édouard Boulanger (FRA), 12h22m30s

TBC : Sébastien Loeb (FRA)/Fabian Lurquin (BEL)

ABU DHABI DESERT CHALLENGE: THE BIG NUMBER

300: Today’s Stage 4, part two of the Marathon Stage, totalled 300 timed kilometres, making it the longest of this year’s Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge.

THE DAY AHEAD: STAGE 5, FEBRUARY 27

The deciding stage of the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge on Thursday February 27 starts in Mezeer’ah and finishes 364 kilometres away in Abu Dhabi. More sand and challenging dunes await the crews.

Stage distance: 167 km / Liaison distance: 197 km / Total distance: 364 km