By Le Figaro with AFP
Published
January 7 at 10:40 a.m.,
updated January 7 at 11:46 a.m.
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The French driver rolled over several times at the wheel of his Dacia this Tuesday. Unharmed, he was able to leave but with considerable delay.
The Dacia car of French driver Sébastien Loeb had an accident on Tuesday at the start of the special stage of the 3rd stage of the Dakar rally in Saudi Arabia, the organization said. “Sébastien Loeb was in fact the victim of rollovers at km 12. The crew, unharmed, was able to leave”.
The nine-time world champion and his co-driver, Fabian Lurquin, unhurt after this accident, managed to repair their fairly damaged Dacia Sandrider. They had reached the first point, after 36 km, with ''only'' 8 minutes behind.
Almost 50 minutes late
But the two men were forced to stop again for a longer period at the 63rd kilometer, falling almost 50 minutes late before passing PK 118. Which compromises their chances of final victory in this edition.
This accident occurs the day after the retirement of the title holder Carlos Sainz, who had to give up due to the damage to his roll bar after his Ford Raptor rolled over during the «48h chrono».
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.
