Why were Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin forced to abandon the race in Portugal?

For over a year, Dacia has proven its ability to develop its Sandrider to make it not only more powerful, but above all, more reliable. Having finally resolved the radiator problems that had plagued drivers at the end of last year, the Romanian prototype demonstrated its resilience to the harsh conditions of the Saudi desert by leading Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin to victory last January.

But in motorsport, what's true today isn't always true tomorrow. Committed to Rally-At the Raid of Portugal, the second round of the W2RC season, the duo had less success than during their victorious finish in Yanbu, on the Red Sea coast. On the third stage, their rally came to a halt after 181 km. Immobilized for several long minutes, the two teammates in car #299 were never able to restart and had to leave the special stage after receiving assistance from their team. While Nasser Al-Attiyah and Fabian Lurquin were still on their way to the bivouac, Dacia's technical director, Philip Dunabin, provided the first clues as to the cause of these mechanical problems.

“Nasser (Al-Attiyah)’s car has an intermittent problem with the charging of the electrical systems,” the Briton reveals. "It seems—and this is what we'll need to check the car when it comes back here—that there are false signals causing the system to shut down. Eventually, there are too many of these shutdowns, and the batteries end up completely drained."

An unusual breakdown, which could originate from the conditions of the Rally-Raid of Portugal, where crews have to pass through water on numerous occasions. "First, we need to examine the car's parts and see if this is related to the conditions of this rally," Philip Dunabin continues. “Obviously, there have been a lot of water crossings, a lot of puddles. It might be related to that. It could be something as simple as water in some electrical connectors. We’ll know once we start examining the car. To do that, we need to start taking it apart and checking everything systematically.”

For the rest, Dacia had a successful day with stage wins for Lucas Moraes and Dennis Zenz, their first victory with the Romanian manufacturer. Meanwhile, Sébastien Loeb and Édouard Boulanger retained the overall lead, even widening the gap, extending their lead to 1:27 over their new runners-up, Seth Quintero and Andrew Short.

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