David Richards was at the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal and praised the organization of the Automóvel Club de Portugal. The Prodrive boss also spoke about the debut of the new Dacia developed for the Dakar and the W2RC.
David Richards, one of the most respected and renowned team managers in motorsport, traveled to Grândola to accompany 'his' Prodrive team on the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal. A regular presence in Portugal, especially for decades at the Vodafone Rally de Portugal, the Briton began by praising the new World Rally-Raid Championship event, stressing the importance of having a W2RC event in Europe.
"I think the organization has done a fantastic job here. We have to realize that it's not easy to organize a race like this in Europe these days. There are very few places that can do it. Everyone worked really hard and made us feel very welcome. The drivers also spoke highly of the event, so I think the ACP has done a great job again, just like in the WRC. In fact, it's extraordinary that they manage to organize two World Championship events so close together," said David Richards.
The founder of Prodrive also revealed that the team will soon be doing its first test with the prototype it is developing for Dacia, which is based on the Hunter T1+ with which Nasser Al-Attiyah won the bp Ultimate Rally-Raid Portugal. "It's a project that started 18 months ago, but there's still a lot of work to do. We're going to do the first test in the desert at the end of this month. Then we'll try to take another step towards winning the World Championship with Nasser in Argentina and in October we'll debut the Dacia at the Morocco Rally. We have an excellent base and we're optimistic," concluded the veteran Prodrive director.
In addition to Nasser Al-Attiyah, Sébastien Loeb and Cristina Gutiérrez will also be driving the Dacia Sandrider in the Renault Group brand's project.