The Dacia car of French driver Sébastien Loeb had an accident this 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-pilot Fabian Lurquin left after a five-minute stop.
At the first score, at km 36, the nine-time world rally champion WRCwho is still chasing a first coronation at the Dakar for his ninth participation, was 8 min 17 sec behind the provisional leader Mattias Ekström.
This accident occurs the day after the title holder abandoned Carlos Sainzwho had to retire due to damage to his roll bar after his Ford Raptor rolled during the “48h chrono”. Due to rain on the course, the Dakar rally has shortened the route of the third special between Bisha and Al Henakiyah to 327 km, compared to 496 km initially.
The Dakar rally, currently dominated by the South African Henk Lategan by car and the Australian Daniel Sanders by motorbike, ends on January 17 in the Empty Quarter desert.
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