Nasser Al-Attiyah and Mathieu Baumel commit with Prodrive
The double title holders of the Dakar join Prodrive for the next Rally-Raid season, and thus become teammates of Sébastien Loeb, already a member of the British team.
It was an open secret. After the Rally of Morocco, which saw them crowned world rally-raid champions, their last rally with Toyota, the duo Nasser Al-Attiyah/Mathieu Baumel had planned to announce their future destination in the coming weeks. The Franco-Qatari duo has thus decided to embark on the next rally-raid season and therefore in the next Dakar, driving a Hunter T1+ from the Prodrive team.
The five-time winner of the Dakar will thus aim to win the biggest rally-raid in the world with a fourth team after being crowned with Volkswagen in 2011, Mini in 2015, and Toyota in 2019, 2022 and 2023.
« The Prodrive Hunter is a sensational car. After three participations in the Dakar and two second place finishes, it is now time for this car to win the Dakar. I myself want to be part of the history of Dakar and the best way to achieve this is to win it with four different brands » said the 52-year-old driver.
By joining the structure founded by David Richards, Al-Attiyah and Baumel thus become teammates of Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin. A duo of stars to take on the Dakar and its competitors starting with Audi, whose team is also led by star drivers with multiple winners Stéphane Peterhansel and Carlos Sainz.
« This is the first time my teammate will be Seb (Loeb) at Dakar, but I already know him very well. He’s an excellent driver and the speed he showed at Dakar for the last two years was incredible. I hope one of us two will win Dakar 2024. »
The next Dakar from January 5 to 19 for the fourth time in Saudi Arabia, on a course of nearly 5000 kilometers divided into 12 specials.
