Affordable car brand Dacia has announced its plans to take part in Rally Dakar, one of the world’s most famous and challenging motorsport events. Prodrive and the legendary Sebastian Loeb will join efforts on building the suitable car for the event.
There is still no detailed information, but the company hinted that Renault would share its own racing expertise with the new team. It can be assumed that the rally car will look like the Manifesto Concept when finished (you can find it in the gallery and the video below).
Dacia says it wants to use the race as an opportunity to test out new technologies that might later find their way into production vehicles. These could include various types of synthetic fuels, just to give an example.
With nine World Rally Championship victories behind his back, Sebastian Loeb is a renowned racing driver who was part of Peugeot and Prodrive teams in the past. He also competed in the Dakar, but never won anything above silver.
The car being created by Dacia right now is scheduled for its big rally debut in 2025, but it will have several smaller races before that, including the 2024 Rallye du Maroc.