Aurélie Sacchelli, Media365, published on Tuesday January 7, 2025 at 9:04 p.m.
Like Carlos Sainz on Monday, Sébastien Loeb was not authorized to continue his Dakar because his roll bar was too damaged.
In the space of 24 hours, two of the drivers announced among the favorites for the Dakar experienced the same misadventure. Like Carlos Sainz the day before, Sébastien Loeb rolled over, and like the Spanish title holder, the French driver was able to reach the finish, before seeing the technical commissioners of the International Automobile Federation prohibit him from taking the lead. start of the next stage. The roll bar of the 50-year-old Alsatian’s Dacia Sandrider was indeed damaged during his accident, and he was therefore taken out of the race for safety reasons. He then occupied 16th place in the general classification, 1h14 behind leader Henk Lategan, and had almost said goodbye to any hope of a final victory. However, at the finish of the stage, after having “dragged all day” due to the breakage of a steering wheel, Sébastien Loeb hoped to be able to leave on Wednesday. “We will continue if the car is in good condition, but I think so,” he explained. But as for Sainz the day before, the verdict of the commissioners was final.
Loeb cursed on the Dakar
While he was aiming for a first victory on the Dakar for his ninth attempt, the nine-time world rally champion, co-driven by Belgian Fabian Lurquin, was forced to abandon for the third time, after 2018 (during the 5th stage , his co-driver Daniel Elena injured his coccyx and sternum after their Peugeot fell into a hole between two dunes) and 2021 (during the 8th, stage driving a Prodrive, the crew had given up after multiple mechanical problems). Fate seems to fall on the French driver who, decidedly, does not make it on the Dakar, where he has nevertheless been on the podium five times. This Dakar 2025 had started badly for him anyway, with almost 40 minutes lost during the first stage due to an electronic problem. The Alsatian, like last year, then embarked on a “remontada” operation, with still many stages, dunes and kilometers ahead of him, but it was finally stopped this Tuesday at the bivouac of Al Henakiyah. Cruel.
Dacia appeals, for the sake of form
At the end of the evening, the Dacia team announced that it was appealing the disqualification of Sébastien Loeb: “The Dacia Sandriders team declared that calculations had been carried out to verify the structure of the roll bar of the car and that they had concluded that a section of the structure, although deformed, is not an integral part of the solidity of the structure and therefore has no impact on the safety of the car”, writes the team in a press release. However, the appeal is not suspensive and the pilot will not have the right to leave on Wednesday. The case will be judged later by the FIA.
