We only had to wait until the second stage to see Sébastien Loeb's bad luck at the Dakar return in 2025. After 450 kilometers, the Frenchman and his co-pilot Fabian Lurquin are already 37 minutes behind the best in this premier stage. of the 47th edition, the 48H Chrono. The reason for such a delay? Problems encountered on the Dacia Sandrider n°219. Speaking to the Chaîne L'Équipe, Tiphanie Isnard, Team Principal of Dacia, explained that her crew had suffered an electronic problem.
“We are still waiting for more precise information, but we know that we have an electronic problem, we managed to identify it even if we have very little network, detailed the French leader. Even the satellite phone is bad, so communication is quite choppy with them. As you know, we are in a neutralization zone so there are regulatory limits to our communication. We are on the subject, Sébastien has just left. Unfortunately we didn't manage to catch him before his departure, but the main thing is to say that he is still in the race. »
Dacia and Loeb powerless in the face of the electronic problem
An electronic problem that is difficult to repair for Sébastien Loeb and Fabian Lurquin, who will certainly have to deal with it until the finish of the 48H Chrono stage on Monday. As a reminder, from 3 p.m. (French time), the crew will have to stop in a bivouac to camp, without technical assistance. The Dacia team, powerless, can only try to help the Franco-Belgian duo from a distance. “When it’s electronics, it’s always serious because you can hardly change the part. There is a whole diagnosis to be made and as we are in the 48H Chrono, we cannot send our teams and our engineers, we do not have telemetry. The first thing is to identify and diagnose the problem and that, from a distance, we don't know how to do. »underlines Tiphanie Isnard, who also indicated that Cristina Gutierrez was going to accompany Sébastien Loeb to help him.
“We couldn't do much. We are at the bivouac, and they are 500 kilometers into the special. Apart from communicating in a choppy manner via the satellite phone, identifying the fault, giving them tips. We have a manual in the car with different processes in the event of a breakdown, so we guided him on which pages to go to, how to try to identify the problem, concluded the Main Team of Dacia Sandriders. Afterwards, they are left to their own devices, we can start to try to analyze, to brainstorm, and as soon as we manage to get them on the phone this evening, and we hope that it will be this evening and not before, continue to diagnose and support them. » If the breakdown persists, the bill could already be very steep for Sébastien Loeb and the hopes of a first victory in the Dakar could already disappear after only two days of competition…
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