Nasser al-Attiyah (Dacia) pulled off a double-whammy on Friday, winning Stage 6 of the Dakar and taking the overall lead ahead of the rest day in Riyadh.
This 6th stage of the 2026 Dakar, 915 kilometers long between Hail and Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, was one that Nasser al-Attiyah was looking forward to. At the wheel of his Dacia, the Qatari, five-time winner of the event, started to attack in the dunes of this first special test on sand (326 km), writes L’Equipe.
He prevailed over his teammate Sébastien Loeb. The two drivers gave Dacia its first double victory in the event. They were followed by the three Toyotas of American Seth Quintero, Australian Toby Price and Portuguese Joao Ferreira, then the Fords of Nani Roma and Carlos Sainz.
With this latest stage win, Nasser al-Attiyah now has a total of 49 Dakar stage wins, one less than Ari Vatanen and Stéphane Peterhansel in the car category.
Debut at last year’s edition, Dacia returned in 2026 to the Dakar Rally with four teams. The manufacturer’s drivers, Nasser Al-Attiyah, Sébastian Loeb and Lucas Moraes, aim for the overall victory with the Sandriders model.
The Dacia Sandrider features several updates such as weight reduction, cooling efficiency, visibility, reliability and driver comfort.
Based on experience from the last Dakar Rally and feedback received from drivers throughout the season, the main improvements to the car include: lighter body panels to improve agility and efficiency, a redesigned rear section with the removal of the luggage compartment, a new air intake with a short Dakar-specific snorkel, a repositioned air filter box, improvements to the cooling system, new FIA homologated connecting rods to improve engine reliability, updates engine software to optimize power delivery within FIA limits and a new on-board camera system for performance analysis.
