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, unhurt, was able to leave”indicated the organization on its live stream of the race.
The 50-year-old Alsatian and his co-driver Fabian Lurquin left after a five-minute stop.
At the first score, at km 36, the nine-time WRC world rally champion, who is still chasing a first Dakar title in his ninth participation, was 8min 17sec behind provisional leader Mattias Ekström.
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.
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