Nasser Al-Attiyah will compete for Dacia in the Dakar Rally and the FIA ​​World Rally Championship (W2RC) starting in 2025, alongside Sébastien Loeb and Cristina Gutierrez Herrero, the carmaker announced on Tuesday, according to AFP.

Nasser Al-AttiyaPhoto: Marcin Kin/AP/Profimedia

>> Dacia will take part in the Dakar Rally with a synthetic fuel car developed by the Arabs of Aramco. The legendary WRC champion will be behind the wheel

Dacia will be represented by the five-time winner of the “Dakar” rally, Nasser Al-Attiya.

A five-time winner of the Dakar Rally (2011, 2015, 2019, 2022, 2023), the pilot from Qatar will officially compete for the brand in the Renault group, starting with the testing phases in 2024.

“From 2024, three crews will test the marque’s prototype, which runs on synthetic fuel, on the routes of Rally Morocco. A common goal: to win the Dakar,” says the Dacia press release.

Nasser Al-Attiyah’s (52-year-old) commitment to Dacia also extends to his co-driver, Frenchman Mathieu Beaumel, with whom he has partnered since 2015 and who will remain with him in his new team.

For the 2024 Dakar Rally, scheduled for January 5-19 in Saudi Arabia, Al-Attiyah has already signed a commitment with British team Pro-Drive (as well as Sébastien Loeb and his Belgian co-driver Fabian Lurquin). after seven seasons spent together by the Japanese manufacturer Toyota.

Since his first participation in the Dakar Rally, in which he participated anonymously and finished 10th in 2004, in Senegal, driving a Mitsubishi Pajero, Al-Attiyah has won the race five times for three different manufacturers: first with Volkswagen (2011), then with Mini (2015) and Toyota (2019, 2022 and 2023). He also drove a BMW and a Hummer.

Al-Attia is also a five-time winner of the Off-Road Rally World Cup and a two-time winner of the World Rally Raid Championship, writes Agerpres.