Despite winning the Dakar Rally in January, the Dacia Sandriders’ future is in flux amid reports of financial trouble at Renault Group. Saudi journalist Ibrahim Al-Zubaidi reported on Monday that a final decision on if the team will continue won’t come until after the BP Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal in March.

Dacia’s second Dakar was as good as it got. Three of the four drivers placed in the top ten while Nasser Al-Attiyah scored his sixth Bedouin after a back-and-forth with Ford; Sébastien Loeb was fourth ahead of Lucas Moraes in seventh, while Cristina Gutiérrez was 11th. Moraes had just joined Dacia after beating Al-Attiyah for the 2025 World Rally-Raid Championship as a Toyota driver.

However, Al-Zubaidi explained Al-Attiyah is currently the only one of the quartet guaranteed to race in Portugal. Al-Attiyah and Gutiérrez are known to have contracts that run through 2027, while Al-Zubaidi noted Moraes had recently signed a three-year deal.

“Renault Group continues to evaluate the option of either maintaining or withdrawing from the program during its upcoming meeting on February 12, despite its recent victory at the 2026 Dakar Rally with Nasser Al-Attiyah,” Al-Zubaidi wrote. “However, the group faces complex legal challenges regarding the mechanism for mutually terminating drivers’ contracts should a withdrawal be decided.”

Team principal Tiphanie Isnard also told Cross-Country Rally News in late January that she wasn’t sure what “the strategy is for the bosses in the Renault Group,” but stressed the team planned to run the full season if possible with the Baja Aragón as a potential extra race. In the meantime, Dacia is letting Al-Attiyah run bajas in an MD Optimus, a move that culminated in him winning last week’s Saudi Baja.

Featured image credit: Julien Delfosse / DPPI / ASO