Five-time Dakar Rally winner Nasser Al-Attiyah will take on the 2024 edition of the world’s toughest offroad rally race in a Prodrive Hunter when the race returns to Saudi Arabia next January.
During the past two decades, the Qatari driver has become one of the most recognisable and well-liked personalities at the rally with his 20th appearance at the race coming up soon.
Al-Attiyah’s first Dakar win came in 2011 and he followed that up with two more victories in South America (2015 & 2019) as well as 2022 & 2023 wins since the Dakar’s switch to the Middle East.
The 52-year-old not only has the chance to make it three wins on the spin, but he will also attempt to make the Prodrive Hunter the fourth different car that he has driven to victory at the rally.
He declared, “The Prodrive Hunter is a sensational car. I think after three trips already to the Dakar and two second place finishes, now it’s time for this car to win the Dakar. I want to make myself part of Dakar history and the best way to do that is to win with four different brands.”
Riding shotgun with Al-Attiyah at his four most recent wins has been co-driver Mathieu Baumel with the duo’s understanding of each other seeming telepathic at times as the Frenchman reads the roadbook and Al-Attiyah steers them over the dunes.
The pair’s success has not been limited to the Dakar as they are also winners of the 2022 and 2023 FIA World Rally-Raid Championship driver and co-driver titles.
Al-Attiyah’s move to Prodrive continues the team’s philosophy of bringing together the world’s greatest drivers with one of the most advanced cross-country rally cars ever created.
The Prodrive Hunter has been designed to cross any terrain at high speed from rocky roads to open desert, sand dunes and mountain passes while it is also powered by a new sustainable fuel – Prodrive EcoPower – which reduces its carbon emissions by 80 percent to help fight climate change.
Sharing the Prodrive paddock with Al-Attiyah in the bivouacs of the 2024 Dakar will be his new team-mate Sébastien Loeb, who has finished as runner-up to Al-Attiyah at the last two editions.
Al-Attiyah added, “This is the first time I will be a team-mate of Seb (Loeb) at the Dakar, but I already know him very well. He really is a great driver and the speed he has shown at the Dakar for these last two years has been incredible. I hope that one of us can win the Dakar in 2024.”
The Dakar’s fifth edition in Saudi Arabia will get started on January 5, 2024 with 5,000 kilometres of racing distance spread across 12 timed special stages from the thousand-year-old city of Al Ula, crossing the country in the direction of the Empty Quarter and finishing in Yanbu on the shores of the Red Sea where the competitors will hopefully see the chequered flag flying on January 19.
In addition to rally wins all over the globe, Al-Attiyah is the only Dakar driver with an Olympic medal after earning a bronze medal for Qatar in the men’s skeet shooting event at London 2012.
He revealed, “2024 is looking like a special year. Not only do I have the chance to go to my seventh Olympic Games, but I also have a shot at winning the Dakar with a fourth different manufacturer.”