Ford’s Raptors Got Schooled By A Budget Brand At Dakar

The dust has just about settled on the 48th Dakar Rally, and it’s not a Porsche, Audi, or another well-known motorsport name that’s celebrating from the podium’s top step. Instead, budget brand Dacia took the outright win, while Land Rover scored first place in the production class with the competition version of its Defender Octa.

Related: Dacia Sandrider Revealed With V6 Power And Concept Looks

After 13 brutal stages across Saudi Arabia, a Dacia Sandrider rolled across the finish line as the overall winner. Qatar ace Nasser Al-Attiyah and navigator Fabian Lurquin carried a healthy lead into the final day and drove sensibly to seal victory by nine minutes and 42 seconds. It marked Al-Attiyah’s sixth Dakar triumph and a first-ever win for Lurquin.

Sand, Sweat, and Stage Wins

Nearly 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of rock, sand, dunes, and punishment stood between the start and the finish. Dacia claimed two stage wins along the way and kept astonishing consistency, only slipping outside the top three once. Four Dacias finished inside the top 11 overall, which is the sort of result veteran teams dream about.

Dacia

The Ford Raptors of Nani Roma and Mattias Ekstrom took second and third, and Sebastien Loeb came agonisingly close to a podium place, missing third overall in his Sandrider by just 37 seconds after a frantic final push.

Lucas Moraes finished seventh on his debut with the squad, and Cristina Gutierrez climbed to 11th. For a brand better known for sensible hatchbacks, the achievement looks borderline unreal.

Defender Octa’s Alter Ego Wins Big

While Dacia celebrated the overall crown, Land Rover fans had plenty to cheer as well. In the Stock class, which is aimed at vehicles closely related to production models, the Defender Rally team dominated from start to finish. Rokas Baciuška and Oriol Vidal claimed the class victory, Sara Price and Sean Berriman finished second, and Stéphane Peterhansel and Mika Metge took fourth.

Across the event, the trio of Defender D7X‑Rs scored one-two-three finishes on 10 of the 13 stages. Unlike the special race-only Dacia Sandrider, the Defenders start life on the same assembly line as regular customer Defenders and retain the core body architecture and driveline layout, though they are obviously tweaked to make them more suitable for the Dakar than a showroom-spec Octa.