Nasser Al-Attiyah was unable to defend his title at the Dakar 2024. In his debut for Nasser Racing, the driver had several problems with the Prodrive Hunter. Right from the prologue, he conceded over 20 minutes, and in the sixth stage (lasting 48 hours), a hard “landing” caused serious damage to the car. The retirement came in the eighth stage, due to an engine failure.
Despite starting the next stage, the Qatari suffered another retirement in the ninth stage – this time due to a steering problem – which led to his definitive withdrawal from the race. Many problems in just over a week left the rally-raid world champion dissatisfied to the point of not wanting to drive the Hunter again.
Quoted by Motorsport.com, Al-Attiyah said on the day he definitively retired: ‘I regret it, I don’t want to return to this car. I’ve already decided, I just came to say thank you and I’m going home. This year, through the Dakar, I learned something in my life and this will never happen again’.
And why is the future of the driver in the Dacia project at risk? The Hunter is the basis of the Romanian brand’s car, managed by Prodrive. Al-Attiyah committed himself from 2025 for three editions, but these statements imply that he may backtrack and not even align with Dacia’s colors.
As is natural, Al-Attiyah’s statements may have been made in the heat of the moment, not necessarily meaning that he will back out and actually seek an alternative to Dacia and the Hunter base, which he will also find if he remains in the program. In addition, there are contractual issues that naturally need to be respected or resolved.
