Nasser Al-Attiyah will leave Toyota once his contract expires in September after guiding the company to three World Cups for Cross-Country Rallies, a World Rally-Raid Championship and three Dakar Rallies.
Al-Attiyah made his Toyota exit public shortly after winning the Baja Espaa Aragón for a sixth time on Saturday. His last race will be the W2RC’s Desafio Ruta 40, which concludes on September 1 in line with the end of his contract.
There have been rumors about his future since May, when he started contract talks with at least two other unnamed teams while leaving the possibility of extending his time with Toyota open.
Following the Baja Aragón, a report from MARCA claimed that his next destination would be Prodrive, where he would partner up with W2RC rival Sébastien Loeb.
When Al-Attiyah joined Toyota Gazoo Racing in 2016, he made an impression right away by winning the Cross-Country World Cup, which was the forerunner to the W2RC.
He drove a Hilux into retirement from his first Dakar Rally the following year but since then, he has won in 2019, 2022, and 2023 and has never placed worse than second overall. In addition, he won the first W2RC in 2022, the World Cups in 2017 and 2021.
He is now in first place in the W2RC and the FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Bajas in 2023. In the first campaign, he won the Dakar and the Sonora Rally twice. In the second, he won the Saudi Baja, the Qatar International Baja and the Baja Aragón while coming in second place in the Italian Baja.
Al-Attiyah is willing to join a developing team despite his triumphs with Toyota in order to aid in their growth beginning with the W2RC-ending Rallye du Maroc in October. Even though Toyota now rules the rally raid globe, teams like Prodrive and the brand-new M-Sport Ford are working to unseat the Japanese automaker.
Toyota’s biggest rival is Prodrive, which runs the Hunter as the Bahrain Raid Xtreme. After a catastrophic conclusion to the Sonora Rally, BRX lost their financial support from Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company (the Kingdom of Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund), which will prevent Loeb from competing against Al-Attiyah at the Desafo Ruta 40 as they concentrate on Morocco and Dakar.
The entry of Al-Attiyah, according to MARCA, might provide the program with much-needed Qatari money as the Hunter gears up for its final performance before Prodrive partners with Dacia in 2025.
