“We have proven that we are a brand you can rely on” – What an important director from Dacia says about the victory in the Dakar rally

Dacia won the Dakar rally in its second participation, the performance is “wonderful”, trust in the brand has increased and – in the medium term – you can see effects on the sales of the brand, and not only in terms of image, said Frank Marotte, Dacia's sales and marketing director, in a discussion with the press.

Dacia confirms its robustness with the Dakar victory:

The Dakar Rally lasted 13 days, there were a total of almost 8,000 km, of which 60% on special stages.

Frank Marotte, Dacia's director of sales, marketing and operations, said, when asked by HotNews.ro, that the brand will see bigger gains in the medium term than in the short term, following the victory in the rally that ended in Saudi Arabia.

“By winning the Dakar Rally we proved that we are a brand you can rely on and we proved that we can bring cutting-edge technologies to the market, but also that we have engineering know-how,” says Frank Marotte, who adds that these things could influence some of the potential customers, but it is impossible to say how many there will be and when the influence of this victory will be felt in sales.

The sales director says reactions have been positive at events held in Brussels and France last weekend, and this is partly due to the Dakar result. “A positive mood has been created around the brand. Brand trust has increased, but the full impact will be felt in the medium term”

A “wonderful” performance

The official describes the performance in Saudi Arabia as “wonderful” and says it came after many years of work “The competition was very serious and we are very proud of the team and the drivers”.

Marott also says that the result is proof that Dacia is a robust car you can rely on.

Dacia Sandriders achieved two stage victories, only once being outside the top 3 in the general classification.

Sebastien Loeb, considered by many to be the best rally driver in history, also competed for Dacia this year.

Dacia and the Dakar rally

Dacia won the rally in the second participation, which is not an easy task.

Dacia won the 2026 Dakar Rally with the crew of Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar) and Fabian Lurquin (Belgium).

Dacia announced in July 2023 that it would participate in the Dakar Rally, and in January 2024 it showed the car it was going to compete in: the Sandrider, with a 359 HP engine. The Dacia Sandrider competition vehicle uses synthetic fuel produced by the Aramco company from Saudi Arabia, Dacia announced at the time. The engine is V6, 3 liters, biturbo and the car is completely different from a standard Dacia. The engine comes from Nissan, “borrowed” from the Nissan Z series of sports cars sold in Japan.

The Sandrider is inspired by the Manifesto concept car (presented in 2022) and created with the help of the Renault Group and Prodrive, a British specialist in the field of motor sports. Without the Prodrive engineers, a successful participation in the Dakar would not have been possible.

The participating vehicle does not at all resemble an ordinary, street Dacia, the idea of ​​the engineers being to keep only what was essential on the outside, avoiding any unnecessary element. Only the absolutely necessary body panels were kept, without any decorative elements.

Just as it did with Alain Prost 15 years ago, Renault and Dacia announced a big name competing: Sebastien Loeb, nine-time WRC world champion.

The rally was held for the last time in 2001 on the route Paris – Dakar, and the last crossing of the Sahara was last time in 2007 (route Lisbon – Dakar). It was also held in South America for many years, and since 2020 it is organized in Saudi Arabia.