If the final round of the 2024 World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC) season in Morocco told us anything, it’s that Nasser Al-Attiyah and Edouard Boulanger hold the coveted favorites tag heading into the 47th running of the Dakar Rally in January.
What is less clear, though, is who will actually take victory in the classic rally raid, for the favorites on paper don’t always necessarily end up on top in the two-week marathon.
Last week’s Rally Morocco provided a glimpse into the future of the W2RC, which is quickly becoming a ‘who’s who’ of world motorsport with the arrival of Dacia and M-Sport, the re-emergence of X-raid Mini JCW and Toyota Gazoo Racing keen to return to form.
It’s why four-time Dakar winner and M-Sport recruit Carlos Sainz reckons that January’s event has the potential to be one of the most hotly contested for years.
Nani Roma had already debuted the Ranger in Hungary but Morocco was Ford's first chance to directly compare its Raptor to rivals
“I am confident that we can be in the fight,” Sainz told DirtFish at the end of the rally in Morocco. “To be honest the Mini was really fast, the Toyota was also fast, and the Dacia as well showed good performance,
“So, in fact I think it is going to be one of the closest Dakars ever, because I have never seen four manufacturers who are so competitive and with such a chance of victory before.”
Coming from a driver like Sainz, who has seen and done it all in the past having won the Dakar with four separate brands (Volkswagen, Peugeot, Mini and Audi), perhaps cross-country rallying is about to embark on its very own golden age. Of the five stages, plus the Prologue, four brands set fastest times.
On the evidence of Morocco, Dacia certainly looks the strongest. The car is fast, agile and, in the case of Al-Attiyah and Sébastien Loeb, reliable. The third Sandrider for Cristina Gutiérrez suffered an electrical issue and twice broke the upper wishbone, proving the car is not completely bulletproof just yet.
Al-Attiyah gave Dacia a winning debut to its maiden rally-raid program, winning the opening stage and then holding off the chasing X-raid Mini JCWs
Then there is Mini, benefitting from the full-time return of X-raid boss Sven Quandt after the end of the Audi program. The new JCW Rally 3.0i T1+ is fast, taking a one-two in the Prologue and claiming a podium with Guillaume de Mévius and Mathieu Baumel. But for a broken engine belt on the final stage, De Mévius would have finished second while Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winoq were also left unrewarded by issues.
Toyota Gazoo Racing has undergone a significant restructuring of late, with long-time team principal and Hilux dealer Glyn Hall selling off the business to ex-driver Shameer Variawa (whose teenage son Saood is set to contest his second Dakar in January). There’s change on the W2RC management front as well, with Alain Dujardyn having left his position as team principal and replaced in-house by Belgians Bart Eelen and Jan Verhaegen.
Despite such a massive upheaval, the Hilux remains a fast car with Lucas Moraes and Armand Monleon winning stage two before a throttle pedal mechanism halted them on stage three. Seth Quitero and Dennis Zenz then finished second on the final stage having faced similar mechanical issues earlier in the week.
Teething issues for the new Ford Raptor T1+ aside, Sainz has reason to be confident. The M-Sport-run Ultimate class machine showed flashes of true pace across the five-stage rally and won the third stage on Wednesday.
In addition to Al-Attiyah's victory, Dacia won three of the five stages in Morocco, immediately making the Sandrider the benchmark Ultimate-class vehicle heading to Dakar
El Matador was also engaged in a lively scrap with former Citroën World Rally Championship team-mate Sébastien Loeb’s Dacia on the final day before dropping to third after a navigation error near the end.
“To be honest, we didn’t know what to expect but we were a bit surprised about winning a stage, so that is already a good thing for us,” added Sainz.
“A lot has happened in a short time and of course we would have liked to have had more preparation to get the best setup and everything. But I must say that we can be very proud of achieving what we have in this short period of time, we’ve maximised what time we had. Now we are really looking at the reliability of the car and for sure this is the priority before the Dakar.”
Having shown well on stage one, M-Sport elected as a precautionary measure to pull Sainz from the second test after it found an issue with the Ford engine. Despite this setback, Sainz believes it was a necessary move in order to continue the development of the car.
“It was something to do with the engine, but the team preferred not to take any risks and to check it, so this was the reason why we chose not to start the stage.
Every team encountered technical issues at some point, including X-raid's new Mini JCW 3.0i – its cars were running second and third heading into the final stage but finished it with a third place and a retirement
“Obviously in the Dakar, we would have reacted in a different way on the previous stage if we had the same issue; it was a decision based on not wanting to compromise the rest of the rally.
“We need to concentrate on the small issues we have, and the rest is quite clear; to build four cars is a big job and I think M-Sport has a task to do it, but I am confident that we should be in a good position to fight at the front.”
If M-Sport is able to fight at the front, then January’s Dakar becomes even more up in the air. And all the better for it.
