Nasser Al-Attiyah, a racer from Qatar, has already won the Dakar supermarathon five times during his career and now he can become the first to do so while driving cars from four different manufacturers.
His last three victories have been in Toyota racing SUVs, but today it was announced that Al-Attiyah will take part in this rally next year in a car built by the British company Prodrive. The same technique in the legendary multi-day competition is driven by another famous driver: nine-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb.
At the same time, Al-Attiyah will continue to work with his former co-driver, Frenchman Mathieu Baumel, and, as emphasized in the team’s statement, the task ahead is absolutely clear: to fight for a sixth victory in the Dakar. at the wheel of a Prodrive Hunter T1+.
Attiyah and Baumel are formally announced as drivers of the Nasser Racing team, for which Prodrive will be responsible for technical support. A total of seven crews will compete in SUVs of this brand during Dakar 2024: in addition to Attia and Loeb (Bahrain Raid Xtreme), these are the X Rally team from Brazil and China’s YunXiang.
Al-Attiyah’s preparation program for the marathon, which starts on January 6 and will once again be held in Saudi Arabia, includes participation in the Portuguese rally raid Baja Portalegre 500 (October 26-28) and the Dubai International Baja (November 10-12) . ); This allows him to get to grips with the new machine.
Nasser Al-Attiyah, Nasser Racing: “It is a special feeling to come to Prodrive because over the past three years I have seen how hard they have worked to refine the Hunter to reach its current high level. I am happy that Mathieu and I are joining Prodrive as I believe they are one of the strongest teams in our sport.
Over the years I have won the Dakar in cars from three different manufacturers, but winning at the wheel of a Hunter, a fourth-brand car, is a difficult task. But we are going to pursue this seriously.”
David Richards, President of Prodrive: “Nasser and Mathieu, reigning world rally raid champions, will be joining us for the 2024 season, which is great news. We look forward to working with this duo as we work hard to prepare for the Dakar in January. Nasser’s success speaks for itself, he has won many championships and I am confident that this duo behind the wheel of Hunter will be able to achieve excellent results.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
