Just days after winning the W2RC Championship with Toyota, Lucas Moraes has joined The Dacia Sandriders team for 2026.
The recruitment of star performers Moraes and Zenz strengthens The Dacia Sandriders’ ambitions in the FIA World Rally-Raid Championship.
Both join what will be a four-car W2RC attack, which will also include established crews Spaniards Cristina Gutiérrez and Pablo Moreno, Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qatar) / Fabian Lurquin (Belgium), and Frenchmen Sébastien Loeb / Édouard Boulanger.
Brazilian Moraes, 35, completed the Dakar Rally with a podium on his event debut in 2023, before placing third in the W2RC standings the following season. A three-time Brazilian champion, Moraes won last month’s Rally-Raid Portugal – his maiden W2RC victory – to start Rallye du Maroc as a W2RC title contender after he finished on the podium in Abu Dhabi and South Africa.
Navigator Zenz, from Germany and also 35, guided Seth Quintero to runner-up in class on the 2023 Dakar Rally. He then partnered the American to outright Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge podiums in 2024 and 2025.
Moraes and Zenz are highly rated W2RC competitors, and their signings will significantly increase The Dacia Sandriders’ chances in motorsport’s toughest discipline, which is contested by several teams fielding four cars or more.
Dacia Sandriders Team Principal Tiphanie Isnard said: “Rally-Raid has changed a lot over the past year, with the competition becoming tighter and more intense. Nowadays, victories are decided by seconds rather than minutes, especially thanks to the FIA’s Balance of Performance system. To allow Dacia to fight for victory, it was essential to have a structure comparable to that of other manufacturers, who enter at least four cars. Adding a new crew to our line-up therefore came as an obvious choice. The final step was to find a duo capable of matching these ambitions. When the time came to choose, Lucas clearly stood out as the best performer statistically, and his personality makes him instantly appreciated by everyone. The same goes for Dennis. Maintaining the spirit and cohesion we’ve built within The Dacia Sandriders was essential for us, and both fit perfectly into this team dynamic that defines our strength.”
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