Here he is straight into the record books. Saood Variawa, South African Toyota driver, became the youngest car stage winner on a Dakar at just 19 years old. This Tuesday, he won the 3rd stage by beating Guerlain Chicherit (Mini) in Al-Henakiyah. Accident, Sébastien Loeb probably saw his hopes of success disappear: he was relegated more than an hour (+ 1h03'20) from the stage winner and fell to 16th place overall (+ 1h14'45) . Henk Lategan is still in the lead, ahead of his new runner-up Nasser Al-Attiyah (Dacia Sandrider). Outside the top 15 and 14'31 behind, the Saudi Yazeed Al-Rahji comes off the podium and finds himself fourth.
At km 12 of the 327 of today's special between Bisha and Al Henakiyah, Loeb's Dacia crossed the road after a bad bounce and carried out several impressive rollovers, which seriously damaged the vehicle. The Frenchman and his Belgian co-driver Fabian Lurquin restarted after a five-minute stop and repairs, but the consequences of the accident were felt for the rest of the race.
We lost an hour
“We were able to continue but suddenly the steering rod broke, because of the rollover I think (…) Then we had a problem with the engine overheating. We tried to finish the stage. We got there but in the end we lost an hour“, he regretted at the finish of the special. Sébastien Loeb finished the course in 4h20″12, more than an hour after the winner of the day, the young South African Saood Variawa.
This accident occurs the day after the retirement of title holder Carlos Sainz, who had to withdraw due to damage to his roll bar after his Ford Raptor rolled over during the “48 hours”. Nine-time world rally champion, Sébastien Loeb is still racing, for his ninth participation, after a first title on the Dakar, so often approached but never won (3rd in 2019 and 2024, 2nd in 2017, 2022 and 2023).
Due to rain on the route, the Dakar rally shortened to 327 km, compared to 496 km initially, the route of the third special between Bisha and Al Henakiyah. The Dakar rally, currently dominated by the South African Henk Lategan in the car and the Australian Daniel Sanders in the motorcycle, ends on January 17 in the Empty Quarter desert.
Ranking of the 3rd stage, run Tuesday between Qalat Bishah and Al-Henakiyah (Saudi Arabia):
1. Saood Variawa (RSA) 3h16:52
2. Guerlain Chicherit (FRA) at 33 seconds
3. Seth Quintero (USA) 1:48
4. Guillaume De Mévius (BEL) 1:55
5. Joao Ferreira (POR) 3:15
6. Nasser Al Attiyah (QAT) 3:34
7. Mattias Ekström (SWE) 3:49
8. Mathieu Serradori (FRA) 5:00
9. Lucas Moraes (BRA) 6:14
10. Giniel De Villiers (RSA) 6:32
-12. Henk Lategan (RSA) 7:31
58. Sébastien Loeb (FRA) 1h03:20
General classification after the 3rd stage
1. Henk Lategan (RSA) 19h04:53
2. Nasser Al Attiyah (QAT) at 7:17
3. Mattias Ekström (SWE) 9:34
4. Yazeed Al Rajhi (KSA) 11:45
5. Lucas Moraes (BRA) 19:40
6. Toby Price (AUS) 20:17
7. Mathieu Serradori (FRA) 21:15
8. Mitchell Guthrie (USA) 23:40
9. Joao Ferreira (POR) 32:07
10. Seth Quintero (USA) 35:04
12. Guerlain Chicherit (FRA) 48:14
16. Sébastien Loeb (FRA) 1h14:45
