“It’s different from WRC,” Loeb explains, “because for Dakar, you need to be able to bring everything together over such a long event. It’s 12 or even 14 days where you need to be competitive and not have any big problems. That’s tricky.”
This year’s silver medal was arguably the toughest to take. Based once again in his British-built Prodrive Hunter T1+, Loeb had the pace to rattle favourites such as his own team-mate, Nasser Al-Attiyah, and Audi’s Carlos Sainz.
Loeb won stages and mounted a dogged pursuit of Sainz, but was ultimately undone by suspension failure with only miles to spare. “It was fun to fight,” he says, “but Audi was strong this year. The team had a good car and clever strategy [the Audis ran in formation in later stages, in case Sainz needed assistance]. I think they deserved victory.”
Three years’ experience with the Hunter is being rolled into Dacia’s car – a dramatic buggy called Sandrider – because Prodrive is acting as a technical consultant. Loeb admits that this continuity attracted him to Dacia, where he’ll line up alongside Al-Attiyah again, and 2024 T3 class winner Cristina Gutiérrez Herrero.
“We’ve been able to use our knowledge of the Prodrive car with the Sandrider,” Loeb says. “We know the good and weak points. So to have this base was one of the big reasons to come to Dacia. But I was also impressed by the involvement of the brand and people. They’re really passionate.”
Loeb will spend 2024 developing the Sandrider, while also keeping his hand in with a few appearances in a lesser T3-class racer. The proposed debut for Dacia is at the Rallye du Maroc, the season-closing event in October. But is it realistic to gun for victory on the 2025 Dakar, only a couple of months later?
“I hope so,” Loeb replies. “Last year we didn’t do any more testing with Prodrive, really, but we already know we’ll be doing six weeks of testing before Morocco; that’s more than we did before the debut of the Hunter. We have to hope that with all the experience that has gone into this car, and the good people working on it, we’ll be competitive right from the start. That’s why we’re here; it’s why I’m here.”
Click here for our review of the all-electric Dacia Spring…
