The Romanian manufacturer announced plans to take part in the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship including the Dakar Rally in an online presentation on Monday, confirming rumours that the Renault Group had been working on returning to the world’s toughest cross-country rally.
Renault scored its one and only victory in Dakar in the third edition of the event back in 1982, when the event was held across Europe and Africa.
No information was provided as to what vehicle will form the base of Dacia’s Dakar challenger, which will take on the likes of Toyota, Audi, Mini and Prodrive, among other manufacturers in the flagship cars category.
However, Dacia did mention that it plans to use the Dakar Rally as a testbed and will compete using sustainable fuel provided by Saudi oil giant Aramco.
Loeb and Gutierrez, who compete as teammates for Lewis Hamilton’s X44 squad in Extreme E, were announced as the two drivers.
Nine-time WRC champion Loeb will leave the current Prodrive-run Bahrain Raid Xtreme operation to join Dacia, as he continues his pursuit of a maiden Dakar win.
"I am very happy, the Dakar is now my main goal, I did it six or seven times, a few times on the podium, but never in first place, so I hope to fight to win, and with the support of Dacia, with a real project from a car manufacturer, it is excellent news for me. I'm sure we will do nice things together.
Source: Autosport