Na een systeemcheck op het Millbrook Proving Ground in het Verenigd Koninkrijk werd de Dacia Sandrider vier dagen lang (6-9 mei) aan de tand gevoeld op het Sweet Lamb-testcomplex in Wales. Vervolgens reisde het team af naar Château de Lastours in Frankrijk voor nog eens vier intensieve testdagen (27-31 mei). Daar kregen de drie equipes de gelegenheid om de Sandrider te testen met BF Goodrich-banden in rotsachtig en veeleisend terrein.

In Wales zat de Spaanse coureur Cristina Gutiérrez de eerste twee dagen achter het stuur van de Sandrider, waarna negenvoudig wereldkampioen rally Sébastien Loeb het stuur overnam voor het resterende deel van het testprogramma. In Château de Lastours maakte meervoudig Dakar-winnaar Nasser Al-Attiyah voor het eerst kennis met de kwaliteiten van de Dacia Sandrider. Na twee dagen nam Loeb het over, terwijl de Gutiérrez de laatste middag in de cockpit kroop.

Tiphanie Isnard, teamleider van The Dacia Sandriders, zoals het rallyteam van Dacia officieel heet, bevestigde dat de eerste testfase de verwachtingen had overtroffen. Al-Attiyah, Gutiérrez en Loeb, evenals de deskundige ingenieurs en technici, ondervonden nauwelijks problemen.

Nu maakt het team zich op voor de eerste uitgebreide test in Marokko van 28 juni tot en met 5 juli. Tijdens deze test wordt de Sandrider op de proef gesteld in terrein dat vergelijkbaar is met de omstandigheden tijdens de Dakar-rally, de openingsronde van het FIA World Rally-Raid Championship van 3 tot en met 17 januari 2025 in Saoedi-Arabië.

“The test in Château de Lastours was the first time for me to jump in the Dacia Sandrider. I found it easy to drive, fast and strong. We did 270 kilometres on the first day and the same on the second day. There were no issues and we enjoyed it a lot. We are in a good way for the next tests and I can’t wait to get to Morocco.”

– Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar), Driver, The Dacia Sandriders

“Having the opportunity to see the Dacia Sandrider in action and cover my first kilometres in the car has been incredible. I am feeling very comfortable in the car, adapting to a new type of car and a new category for me. There are still many important test days ahead, but in general we are super-happy with the work of the team. We cannot ask for more. It is the general feeling to be very proud of the car’s performance in these first tests.”

– Cristina Gutiérrez (Spain), Driver, The Dacia Sandriders

“The testing has gone very well. I did one day in the UK and two days in France. We worked on the suspension and the diff to find a good balance with the car and I was really happy with how it worked. The engine was working well since the start and we didn’t have any problem with the car. Based on the experience of a brand-new car it’s looking really good and I look forward to continue the testing in Morocco.”

– Sébastien Loeb (France), Driver, The Dacia Sandriders

“We have completed a series of initial tests before we go for our first test in a real rally-raid environment in Morocco. So far everything has gone astonishingly smoothly with no serious problems. We’ve managed to sign off all the basic things in terms of the engine, we’ve done quite a lot more work than we expected to do on the suspension set-up and the transmission settings have been reviewed in terms of the differentials. The suspension had a real good going over not just during the test at Sweet Lamb but very much so in the test at Château de Lastours. Now, we’ve got a lot of work cleaning up a lot of the details putting the car into a state that is ready to go on a rally. We managed to highlight one or two problems in terms of the crew’s installation inside the car that we want to make some improvements and they should also be in place before we do the tests in Morocco. Everything is looking really positive, only a couple of very minor things that we were able to work on quite quickly. Now everybody is working flat out preparing everything for Morocco and we are very much looking forward to continuing our Dakar preparations there.”

– Philip Dunabin, Technical Director, The Dacia Sandriders