The extremely anticipated Dacia Sandrider had a début for the ages when Nasser Al-Attiyah and Sébastien Loeb completed 1–2 on the Rallye du Maroc, the previous clinching his third consecutive World Rally-Raid Championship within the course of.
Al-Attiyah entered the season finale with a 25-point benefit over Yazeed Al-Rajhi. He ran each spherical previous to Morocco within the Prodrive Hunter earlier than switching to the Sandrider, Prodrive’s latest rally challenge and Renault’s return to the self-discipline (a Hunter was nonetheless current in Morocco with Marcos Baumgart, who narrowly missed the highest ten by two and a half minutes).
Whereas Al-Attiyah led the cost in his title pursuit, there have been rising pains amongst his fellow Sandriders. Catastrophe virtually struck Loeb from the beginning when the previous crashed right into a ditch within the Prologue. Cristina Gutiérrez narrowly averted the identical destiny, however a mechanical failure in Stage #3 knocked her out of competition.
Luckily for Loeb, Prologue occasions don’t depend in direction of the ultimate consequence for FIA classes, and he finally regained his footing with two stage wins. On the entrance, Al-Attiyah claimed Stage #1 and by no means misplaced the general lead as he completed on the stage podium in 4 of 5 days, with a sixth on the final day to cap off his title.
Al-Rajhi received the penultimate leg, however needed to make up over twenty-one minutes on the final day to have a shot. Clearly an unimaginable process except Al-Attiyah retired, he ended up ending fifteenth in Stage #5 to accept second in factors as he did in 2023.
Al-Attiyah stays the one driver to win the World Rally-Raid Championship since its inception in 2022. The title can also be his fourth in a row on the worldwide rally raid stage after claiming the predecessor FIA World Cup for Cross-Nation Rallies the 12 months prior. His navigator Édouard Boulanger, regardless of becoming a member of him midseason, additionally claimed the co-drivers’ championship for the primary time.
“It feels so good to get my seventh win right here at Rallye du Maroc,” stated Al-Attiyah. “Additionally to win the FIA World Championship for the third time feels nice. On prime of every part it’s a win for Dacia in our first rally.”
Loeb’s Stage #5 win propelled him previous the Minis of Guillaume de Mévius and Guerlain Chicherit for second behind Al-Attiyah. It’s his finest Rallye du Maroc end.
“That is our first rally with Dacia and we’re first and second in order that reveals we have now a extremely aggressive automotive,” Loeb acknowledged.
De Mévius and Chicherit joined X-raid Group beginning at Morocco in a shock defection from Overdrive Racing. It didn’t take lengthy for both of them to get used to the brand new Mini JCW Rally 3.0i, with Chicherit successful the Prologue and working third behind de Mévius for a lot of the rally earlier than retiring on the final day attributable to harm. His team-mate misplaced the runner-up spot to Loeb in Stage #5 to a damaged engine belt that value him twelve minutes.
X-raid colleague João Ferreira sacrificed time to assist de Mévius, however managed to complete prime ten in ninth.
“The engine ran with none issues and we confirmed that the Mini has nice potential,” stated X-raid boss Sven Quandt. “Guerlain additionally did an awesome job and achieved incredible stage outcomes. Guillaume had a robust rally. He secured third place on his first outing within the Mini JCW Rally Plus. Thanks additionally to João, who stopped to assist. He could be very glad along with his first desert rally within the Mini.”
Lucas Moraes received Stage #3 en path to a tenth to seal his third-place rating within the championship. Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Seth Quintero rounded out the highest 5 to conclude his Final rookie season with a sixth. The duo and Al-Rajhi’s Overdrive Hilux helped raise Toyota to their third consecutive producers’ title over Prodrive.
Moreover Chicherit, 9 different rivals within the Final class retired. Aliyyah Koloc, who made her return to motion after recovering from surgical procedure in July, rolled right into a ditch in Stage #3; Chicherit almost crashed into the identical gap however managed to leap over it after accelerating at full pace.
With the Rallye du Maroc doubling because the W2RC’s season finale and a gown rehearsal for the 2025 Dakar Rally, many groups positioned emphasis on the latter like Al-Attiyah’s Dacia colleagues and X-raid. Pau Navarro completed thirteenth in his début for Previous-Racing, whereas 2023 W2RC Quad champion Laisvydas Kancius was twenty-third because the navigator for Gintas Petrus.
Final general outcomes
Final stage winners
W2RC standings
In contrast to Challenger and SSV, Final doesn’t have its personal class-specific trophy and as an alternative has a single championship the place drivers from all three points-paying classes are eligible.
For readability, rivals registered for the championship however didn’t earn factors are excluded.
